m «1 C3*c 







<: 




r< - 


■t 4 


J'. 

I 

t 
rr 


C c 


If < 


<i 




c < 


c< 


C '-- 


<^ 


c 


•CA- 


c 


c 


C<i 


c 


C 
C 


c 


<^C 

C C 


C 


c 


(? c 


i 


c 


v C 


C 


C 


C^ 


«s<- 


c 


CL 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. || 




dccc c^ 


C<L 


czccrxg. 


(EC 


<Cj3CQCC 


(C 


<ic<crc4 


CC 


ccctk: 


cc. 


<3^ CC 


C C 


«3<£ <£_ 


cc 


<~<m <r 


c c 



<SC cc * 

<SC c.CL < 



C- c. 


cc 


C: CL 


cc 


C CI 


c<c 


c c 


cc. 


c c: 


cc 


c <c 


d< 


c <r 


r cc 


c ;.cr 


cc 


C <Z 


cc 


c cr 


cc 


CC <T 


oc 


cc <r 


c< 


cr <c 


c c 


<c<c 


CC 


,cc<x 


c c 


5 <G*C 


c_< 


I<C<S 


c 


-rc«rr«cr 


c 



CCC <ZC 

C! C 
< C • 

<c c< r <H 



^S^ <«LC_ 


cc 


^jC c 


c <y 


cc<r 


C c 


<tl cc 


V 


tiP*cc 


cc 


OC c 


c <: 




cc 
ccr 


CC « 
<CC 

or 




c<c 
c<c" 




<CC 

<lc 


OC2 

cc <^ 



«L 


C£ 


; ->d. 


c 


<rc<C <: 


c. cc 


cl 


cc c 




CL_ 


eg <ci: << 


C c 


\- 4sz~r ' ■ 


c 


sCc:<cI1j:< 


<0 <: 


:c «cr 


C 


^cc^Btr^c 


<C c 


i «ci c 


CC 


<C^C1 < 


d c 


:c <sz • 


C 


<C<d_< 


<C1 




C 

c 


^C"< -^T" 


<C 


<L 


<£-<&- <Zl< 


c 


^r^zi 


c«C 


n<C'«cfc: 


cr 


. «cc <rr 


<C 


~<c«e-<~~ : 


c 


«3 <CT^ 


^1 


<sr.«3C5 


<S5 


ccC" 


<cz 


CC €£.<! 


c 


C C c «3H 


<E3 


<X c d 


c 


<cs <cr 


^T_ 


cc c; 


c 


Cc ^ 


^CZI 


la ::«*rjcc 


a 


CC<2. ^_I 


* 


c_._ 


::. <tc c<£~ 


^ 

c 


c <cc ^c 


4 


IKZ: 


4 


£ : 


: - CC «C<Z ._- 


<£r 


co. «r 


« 


c3 


Cc C C^ 


«: 






^c 


3 <Z-C «uCZ: 


«c 


ccic #c 


< 


d 


CC <C<C 




ca *r 


4 


JC 


_ cc cic 7 


<Ci"<c<^: iar 


« 


^ 


eg <r<cr 


«cr < 


c<r <'.'-' ^c 


4 


CI 


cc <ic 

c c<c:<«c 


; <C« c<ccc< ^C 

s3Cc 


jCs <<C« 


< 


CI 


-5,;. * OCCCK 


L <c« 


CC Cc 41 


: ^ 


< ^ < 


c 


c<llcx 


C ^C 


< *C- 


C V 


c<n<3i 


' 


^c 


z. c<ce 


<3CH CX 
OCT CC 
C1C 


c 
C 




c^c^r < 


_ ; s 




- A 


^Cj 


c<C 


C 


«r <cc 



I 



PHREN0L0C4Y 



FAMILY. 

OR THE UTILITY OF PHRENOLOGY IN 
EARLY DOMESTIC EDUCATION. 

DEDICATED TO MOTHERS, 



Train up a child in the way he should go.— Solomon. 

Whom shall he teach knowledge 1 Them that are weaned 

from the milk, and drawn from the breasts —Isaiah. 



BY JOSEPH A. WARNE, A. M. 



GEORGE W. DONOHUE, 

No, 22, South Fourth Street, 

18 3 9. 



.Vffc 



Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the 
year 1839, by Joseph A. Warxe, in the Clerk's Office 
of the District Court of the Eastern District of Penn- 
sylvania. 



Cj \ 

/ 



V^ 



Philadelphia : 

KIXG AND EATRD, PRINTERS, 

No. 9, George Street. 



PJREFACE. 

The history of the little work which i$ 
here offered to the public, is briefly as follows r 
In the winter of 1834 — 5, the author was 
solicited to deliver a Lecture before the Ly- 
ceum of the town in which he then resided. He 
acceded to the request, and delivered a lecture 
on " Early Domestic Education." But at 
that time, and in that place, Phrenology had 
not gained such a footing, as' for it -to be quite 
certain that the lecturer would secure a candid 
hearing, if that science was brought into 
prominence ; and accordingly, he determined 
not to name it. But he had read and reflected, 
considerably, on the subject, during the three 
or four years previous ; and had come to the 
conclusion that no system of education can be 



IV PREFACE. 



successful, any further than it is in harmony 
with those principles or elements of our nature 
with which Phrenology makes us acquainted : 
and that this \s % emphatically true, so far as 
regards the Feelings ; — that part of our nature 
which, more than any other, receives its educa- 
tion " at home." Accordingly, while he care- 
fully avoided the use, not only of the word 
11 Phrenology," but also of all its technicalities, 
he delivered a lecture on the education of the 
feelings, on phrenological principles. The 
success of the effort was greater than he had 
ventured to hope for : — it was very generally 
felt that the real elements of our nature had 
been brought to view ; and a rational mode of 
treatment recommended : and the lecturer was 
warmly solicited to print his discourse. With 
this request, he was unable to comply, at the 
time ; in consequence of a press of engage- 
ments : for he had lectured extemporaneously ', 
from a mere. outline. This outline lay by him 



PREFACE. V 

for several months ; when the lady at that time 
editing " The Mothers' Monthly Journal," ad- 
dressed to him a letter, requesting him, as a 
Phrenologist, (which she understood he was) 
to prepare an article for that periodical, on the 
application of Phrenology to the early educa- 
tion of children. 

This letter called out the skeleton lecture 
from its resting-place ; and he prepared a 
series of papers from it, for the pages of the 
Mothers' Journal ; which appeared over the 
signature H. S. E. Those papers the author 
has been frequently urged to collect and pub- 
lish ; but he could never persuade himself that 
they were worthy of a separate appearance ; at 
least in the form in which they then were. But 
the opinions of judicious friends had their 
weight with him ; he therefore revised the 
papers, enlarged them, and supplied deficien- 
cies, until they grew to the size in which they 
are here presented. 



VI PREFACE. 

In the progress of the work the author has 
availed himself, to a limited extent, of the 
labors of phrenological writers on the subject, 
who preceded him ; particularly Levison, and 
Simpson ; but the works of others than phrenolo- 
gists have been found only in a very small degree, 
adapted to his design. In one feature he 
thinks, this work will stand alone, at present, 
before the public : viz : in being, at the same 
time, phrenological and religious-: and he 
endeavoured to make it such, in order that the 
religious portion of the community might per- 
ceive the harmony between the philosophy of 
phrenology, applied to education ; and the 
inculcation, as a matter of paramount impor- 
tance, of the truths of revealed religion, on the 
minds of children. The works of mere phre- 
nologists, on education, excite the apprehen- 
sions, not to say the prejudices, of serious 
christians, as to the bearings and tendency of 
the science ; even where they cannot but 



PREFACE. Vll 

perceive the soundness of its philosophy : and 
the works of mere religionists, on education, 
-are, in some respects, so unphilosophical, that 
the human subject cannot be, most effectually, 
educated in accordance with their dogmas. 
He has endeavoured to unite the two ; and if 
he has succeeded, he has accomplished his 
wishes. 

He has only a word or two to add. The 
similarity between the views exhibited in 
the following pages, and certain portions of 
Mr. Combe's Lectures on Phrenology, where 
lie treats on the same subject, will not fail to 
strike such readers of this work, as may have 
enjoyed the pleasure of hearing those Lectures. 
In justice to himself, he may be permitted to 
say, that this work was prepared, and in the 
hands of the Publisher, before the delivery of 
either course of that gentleman's Lectures : — 
the similarity, — yes, even the identity of views 
expressed by him and by the author, without 



V1U PREFACE. 

concert, or knowledge on the part of either, 
that such were the opinions of the other, goes 
far, however, to prove that both, in embracing 
Phrenology as the basis of Education, have 
adopted the true philosophy of human nature, 
Joseph A. Warne. 

Philadelphia, April 8, 1839, 



PHRENOLOGY 

IN THE 

FAMILY. 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTION. 



For several years after the annunciation of 
his discovery, by Dr. Gall, that the brain is not 
a unit, but an assemblage, or congeries of organs, 
each having its appropriate function, the absorb- 
ing question on the subject, was, is it true ! 
There are many persons, indeed, who are not 
yet convinced of its truth ; with them, there- 
fore, this question may be considered as still 
undecided. The number of such persons, 
however, is rapidly decreasing ; and such have 
been, and daily are, the number and nature of 
the experiments calculated to test its truth, and 
so adapted to convince persons of plain sense, 
that it is, indeed, a science, and has its founda- 
tion in nature, that it is confidently believed, 
1 



14 PHREx\OLOGY 

the time is not distant, when it will be no more 
doubted, than the circulation of the blood, or 
its purification, by contact with the oxygen of 
the atmosphere, in the lungs. 

Several things concur in leading us to adopt 
this opinion : 

First, The number of strong minded and 
well informed persons, who have, during the 
few last years, set themselves about the serious 
examination of the evidences of the truth of 
Phrenology, is very considerable : and the facts 
that such persons, after thorough examination,* 
are always either believers in its truth, or strong- 
ly inclined to the opinion that it is true ; — and 
also that many of them, from bold and unsparing 
assailants, (who commenced the examination of 
it with the view of disproving it,) have become 
its firm believers, and bold professors, and able 
advocates : (such are Dr. Vimont of Paris, and 
Mr. Deville of London,) — these facts inspire 
us with confidence that Phrenology can well 

* Dr. Sewall's Lectures in opposition to Phrenology 
are themselves a proof that he has not "examined" it; 
but is profoundly ignorant of its pretensions. See a 
review of them. Christian Review, Dec, 1837. 



IN THE FAMILY. 15 

bear scrutiny ; and that the extent to which it 
will be believed to be true, will be always in 
proportion to that to which it is examined. 

Secondly, Several of the leading Periodicals, 
both of this country and of Europe, have 
greatly changed, and are rapidly changing their 
tone with respect to this subject: and as many 
as three or four, are in existence, exclusively 
devoted to the interests of Phrenology. More- 
over, several of the writers in these journals, 
who do not choose, for various reasons, to com- 
mit themselves before the world, as believers in 
Phrenology, give evidence, to an instructed 
Phrenologist, that they have become believers 
in the truth of the science ; and that they avail 
themselves of the light it scatters, to guide 
them in their researches through the regions of 
Mental and Moral Science, Medicine, Educa- 
tion, and even Theology. Such guides them- 
selves conducted by Truth, will soon be much 
more numerously followed. 

Thirdly, The number of gentlemen of the 
Medical Profession, who are now found in the 
ranks of the friends of Phrenology, is a pledge 
that not many years will elapse, before their 



10 PHRENOLOGY 

opinions, as on the circulation of the blood, and 
on the nervous system, will be adopted by the 
community ; as eiiher certainly, or probably 
true ; being the opinions of men devoted to a 
particular profession, on a subject with which 
they are peculiarly conversant : — human phy- 
siology. Once, indeed, the whole medical 
profession, with Dr. Gordon, of Edinburgh, at 
its head, denounced Drs. Gall and Spurzheim, 
as quacks and impostors ; — ignorant pretenders 
to even Physiological knowledge ; and blankly 
denied the truth of the doctrines advocated by 
the latter, in his work on the anatomy of the 
brain. But that period has passed away. Soon 
after, Dr. Spurzheim, in the Lecture room of 
Dr. Gordon, and under his eye, with his article 
in the Edinburgh Review in one hand, and a 
human brain in the other, demonstrated the 
soundness of his own positions, and the fallacy 
of those of his assailant ; in the presence of a 
respectable assemblage' of the first men, in the 
medical profession, in Britain. This defeat of 
Dr. Gordon, in his own Anatomical Theatre, 
was too much for his endurance ; and it is gene- 
rally acknowledged to have accelerated, if it did 



IN THE FAMILY. 17 

not, through chagrin, actually produce his death. 
Since his days a great change has been wrought, 
in the feelings and opinions of medical men, 
towards Phrenology : — some, indeed, — those 
who are advanced in life, and, moreover, are 
committed against it, and who have more regard 
for consistency, (even in error,) than for truth, 
may be expected to continue their opposition*, 
but the uncommitted, of every age, are daily 
coming over to the side of its friends : and the 
junior members of the profession, with very 
few exceptions, are believers in its truth. It 
requires no prophetic gift, to enable us to 
predict the consequence, on the community, in 
the lapse of a very few y 

But another inquiry is beginning to agitate 
the public mind in this country, relative to 
Phrenology : viz : Its utility. Is it useful ? 
What is its utility \ To Whom is it useful? 
How can the generality of people render it 
useful 1 

To the first of these questions we shall 

return only a short answer : viz : Whatever is 

true, cannot but be useful. This question, 

surely, cannot be asked, after due consideration. 

1* 



18 PHRENOLOGY 

Who can question, seriously, whether true and 
specific knowledge of our own nature is useful? 
Is it useful to improve our nature ? unquestion- 
ably. But how can our efforts at improvement 
be wisely directed, unless we are previously 
possessed of information, as to what are the 
powers and faculties of our nature ? 

To the second inquiry — "What is its utility?" 
i. e. to what is it advantageously applicable ? 
— it is not so easy to give an answer ; — not 
however, from the paucity of objects to which 
it is thus applicable ; but from their multiplicity: 
the difficulty lies in selection, and not in dis- 
covery. It would carry us far beyond the 
limits to which we must here confine ourselves, 
were we to enter into detail of the uses of 
Phrenology, in the several departments to which 
it is applicable : we must content ourselves 
with naming some of those departments. 
Phrenology has effected, and is effecting, pro- 
digious changes in the medical treatment of the 
Insane. Physicians, generally, now account 
Insanity to be, not disease of the mind ; but 
of the bodily instruments with which the 
mind* In the present state, acts ; or through 



IN THE FAMILY. 19 

which it is affected. Accordingly, the patient 
is treated for physical disease ; efforts are made 
to restore these bodily instruments to healthful 
action ; means are employed, which have a 
known tendency to produce such action ; and 
hence the comparative certainty, in cases of 
recent insanity, of the restoration of the patient 
to mental soundness. Phrenology then, is 
useful in Medicine. 

It is also useful in Intellectual and Moral 
Science. It is destined, wholly to recast the 
existing systems of the science of mind ; or 
rather to sweep them away ; as not true to 
nature ; and to substitute a true and natural one. 
And though the laws of Moral Science, being 
found in the Bible, are among " the things 
which cannot be moved ;" Phrenology is 
destined, by a developement of what human 
nature really is, to show the adaption of those 
laws to the nature of man as the subject of 
them ; and thus to present us with a beautiful, 
and perfect, and useful system of the Philo- 
sophy of Morality and Religion. In like man- 
ner, it would be easy to prove its utility, in 
connection with Jurisprudence, Medical and 



20 PHRENOLOGY 

Criminal ; and also, through the whole process 
of Education. On the former of these subjects 
we shall not enter ; because it might not interest 
those for whom the following pages are in- 
tended : and the latter we shall not discuss, 
because, the principal part of the matter in this 
volume, will consist in an amplification of one 
portion of this subject : viz : Education in its 
early states ; and especially as conducted under 
the parent's eye: — Early Domestic Education, 
to the successful prosecution of which we 
consider Phrenology very highly important. 

We have thus, in some degree, anticipated 
a reply to the inquiry, " To whom is Phrenol- 
ogy important ?" Yet we will briefly reply 
to it. It is important, as we have seen, to 
Physicians, to Judges, to Lawyers, to Teachers, 
to Parents, to Ministers ; to all who are called 
to act upon, and mould the minds of others : 
and it is important, especially, to those who 
exert most of this controlling and moulding 
influence ; and, particularly at those periods, 
when this influence is the most potent, and the 
most efficacious. To Teachers, therefore, it 
is specially important; because, often, large 



IN THE FAMILY. 21 

masses of youth are under their influence ; but 
to Parents it is pre-eminently so ; for to them 
is intrusted the mind, in its most plastic state ; 
and in the most charmed, and magic circle, — 
Home. They, emphatically, 

" Teach the young idea how to shoot." 

But it is on one of the parents, principally, 
that the burden of domestic instruction, in early 
childhood, falls ; — on the mother ; and it is to 
her especially,, that the following pages are 
addressed. While many, actuated by mere 
curiosity, would inquire, " How can people in 
general, render Phrenology useful in the busi- 
ness of education? She will put the question 
with real and intense interest ; the strong in- 
stinct of parental love makes her desire to 
know any means, by which she may be aided 
in the discharge of the difficult duties of her 
responsible station. With a design to gratify 
this desire the following" pages are written. 



22 PHRENOLOGY 



CHAPTER II. 

THE SUBJECT PROPOSED AND ASCERTAINED. 

There are very few terms, of so frequent 
occurrence, respecting which there is an im- 
perfect understanding of their import, as " Edu- 
cation." Every one supposes he understands, 
clearly, what it is ; and almost every one is 
loud in advocating universal education ; and in 
eulogizing our own country, on account of the 
facilities it affords, for the extensive diffusion 
of this blessing among her citizens. 

But we no sooner propose the question, 
" What is education ?" than we are constrained 
toadmitthat it is very imperfectly understood, 
even by many of its loudest eulogists, and 
warmest friends. Most persons would define 
it to be, " The cultivation of the intellectual 
faculties." It is true, indeed, that they call it 
the cultivation of the mind ; but to the term 
11 mind," they attach the idea of, merely the 



IN THE FAMILY. 23 

intellectual powers. Now this supposes man 
to possess only intellect ; and that if this shall 
be cultivated, the man is educated. But this 
supposition is erroneous : Man is not a mere 
intelligence : he possesses other faculties than 
those of the understanding ; and some faculties 
superior to them : and unless these, also, are 
cultivated, the man, or human subject, cannot 
be properly considered " Educated" in the 
true extent of the import of that term. 

But what generally passes by the name of 
Education, is not in reality, the cultivation of 
the intellectual faculties : it is the cultivation, 
or rather the excitement to activity, of certain, 
of those faculties ; but all of them are not 
exercised ; and those which are employed, are 
occupied rather upon words, than things : — 
words to which there are often, no correspond- 
ing ideas, in the mind of the learner ; and not 
things, with the existence, and properties, and 
phenomena of which, his external senses, and 
his intellectual faculties capacitate him to be- 
come acquainted ; of which, therefore, he is 
able to form distinct ideas, and on which, he 



24 PHRENOLOGY 

is capable of acquiring positive, and useful 
knowledge. 

But man is the subject of Feelings, as well as 
Intellect : and it is manifest, that the education 
of the human being, must embrace the educa- 
tion of his feelings. To conduct properly, the 
education of these, a much more detailed and 
extensive knowledge than is commonly posses- 
sed, is indispensable ; — a knowledge however, 
not of books, and the science of which they are 
the depositories, but of the nature of the being in 
whom exist the feelings to be disciplined and 
educated : a knowledge more definite, and ex- 
tensive, and exact, of human nature, than any 
system except Phrenology has furnished. A 
moment's reflection must convince us, that he 
who would train a child to any advantage, ought 
to understand the elementary principles of that 
nature, of which the child is a specimen: and, 
moreover, that he might a jonon, be expected to 
labor to greater advantage, in proportion as his 
knowledge extended, to the degrees in which 
the general elements of humanity entered into 
the composition of the individual subject of his 
experiment. To illustrate this idea ; — to what 



IN THE FAMILY. 25 

advantage could an artizan work upon the 
metals, who knows not the essential properties 
of metals in general ? And might he not be 
expected to work skilfully and effectually in 
any given metal, in exact proportion as he 
knew the degree in which, in that metal, the 
essential properties of metals in general were 
combined. And the case is similar in educa- 
tion : no one is well qualified for the office of an 
Instructor, who does not know more than that 
a child possesses feelings. He must know, both 
in general, and in particular, what those feelings 
are. And as there are not only different indi- 
vidual feelings, but different classes of them, 
and these classes of various relative impor- 
tance, the well qualified instructor must know 
these facts ; and must regulate his movements 
by this knowledge. He must, moreover, know 
the relative dignity of these feelings, with 
reference to each other, and also, to the intellect $ 
—the relation in which both classes are design- 
ed to stand, to the intellect : — what are the 
manifestations of the feelings ; — when these 
manifestations are made; — and where; — and 
2 



26 PHRENOLOGY 

what the treatment, proper for them to receive, 
in order to their perfect education. 

Each of these particulars will receive a por- 
tion of attention, in the following pages ; and 
it is hoped that our labors will not be altogether 
fruitless. We have mentioned " Instructors, '* 
more than once in the above remarks ; but as 
we intend to confine ourselves, in the hints we 
offer, to the instruction which is given at home ; 
and to include, even the earliest of such instruc- 
tion, there is obvious propriety in dedicating the 
work to Mothers ; for of the education to which 
our attention will be principally confined, 
Mothers are the appropriate dispensers. 

It may be proper, here, to obviate an objec- 
tion which may be made, against an attempt to 
introduce modes of education for the adoption 
of mothers, based on a science of which many, 
and perhaps most, of them are wholly ignorant £' 
at least, practically so. It may be said, and 
with an appearance of reason too, " That since 
most mothers know almost nothing of the 
situation of the phrenological organs, nor of 
their functions, it is as absurd to make a system 
of nursery instruction rest on Phrenology, as 



IN THE FAMILY. 27 

it would be to raise the superstructure of an 
edifice, without, first, laying the foundation." 

To this our answer is, First, That the 
foundation may be well considered as laid, in 
this community ; in the numerous works, to be 
found in every book store, on Phrenology, as 
a system : and, therefore, for ns to lay it, here, 
would be a work of supererogation. If mothers 
will read, and digest these works, they will 
transfer the foundation to their own minds ; and 
our labor, in these pages, will be, more proba- 
bly, to good purpose, It is true that the course, 
now recommended, involves necessarily the 
consumption of some time ; and the employ- 
ment of some labor : more, perhaps, than some 
can spare, to whom this little work may be 
useful. We therefore reply, Secondly, That, 
in these pages, we shall, nowhere, presuppose 
a knowledge of Phrenology, as exhibited in 
books ; i. e. of Organology. We shall name, 
indeed, several of the organs ; but not as such : 
— our design is to call the attention of mothers 
to the several faculties of their children ; and 
to the proper mode of educating them ; not to 
the material instruments, by which those 



28 PHRENOLOGY 

faculties are manifested. While, therefore, an 
acquaintance with Phrenology, as laid down in 
the books, is admitted to be, in the judgment of 
the writer, important to mothers ; it is by no 
means indispensable, in order to the usefulness 
of his labors for their benefit. 

The Feelings, which belong to human nature, 
may be divided into two great classes : viz : 
Those which man possesses, in common with 
the lower animals ; and those by which he is 
distinguished from them, and elevated above 
them. There are some feelings, which are 
found in certain tribes of animals below man, 
but not in other tribes : these, therefore, are 
feelings of a mediate character. 

Both the first mentioned of these feelings, 
and those of a mediate kind, are in phrenolo- 
gical language, termed " animal feelings," or 
" propensities :" but the second class are termed 
"moral feelings," or "sentiments." The 
education, which these two classes of feelings 
require, may be very briefly expressed; and, we 
are persuaded, that, the statement will command 
the instant respect of every reflecting mind : 
It is this : The animal feelings are to be edu- 



IN THE FAMILY. 29 

eated to obey and the moral feelings to command. 
In the present fallen condition of human nature, 
energy is the characteristic of our animal feel- 
ings ; and feebleness that of our moral ones : 
consequently, naturally, and antecedent to 
education, our animal feelings would rule, and 
not serve ; and our moral ones would serve, and 
not rule. Hence in educating those, control 
is requisite ; but in the training of these, ex- 
citement. And it is in beautiful harmony 
with this system, that we find the eternal 
mandates of Heaven directed against excess of 
the former, in prohijitions ; — " Thou shalt not 
kill :" — Thou shalt not steal, &c. But the 
Moral Sentiments are addressed in commands, 
46 Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself;" 
and the faculties are stimulated to the act of 
obedience, by the tenderest, and most powerful 
motive we can conceive : " Love one another, 
as I have loved you" 



2* 



30 PHRENOLOGY 



CHAPTER III. 

THE BEING TO BE EDUCATED, IN THE NURSERY. 

Having divided the feelings, which belong 
to the being to be educated, into their classes ; 
and shown their relative dignity and importance, 
both with respect to each other, and with 
respect to the Intellectual Faculties, we may 
proceed to the enumeration of the particular 
feelings in each class. It would be improper 
here, however, to present a portrait of the 
feelings only : they should be drawn, in con- 
nexion with all that belongs to the subject of 
Nursery Education, (the young human being) 
and in the harmonious proportions which they 
bear to other parts of the original. We shall 
attempt, therefore, thus to present them. 

The Feelings which belong to the first class, 
are those which belong to man, in common 
with the lower animals — they are, properly, 



IN THE FAMILY. 31 

the instincts of human nature. As the subject 
under discussion is not Education in General ; 
nor is it education beyond that period, when it 
may be advantageously imparted at home, there 
are some of the instincts of our nature, to 
which it will be' unnecessary to advert : because 
the feelings themselves are not manifested, until 
a later period in the life of the child. Those 
which we shall enumerate, we venture to 
assure ourselves, every observant and reflecting 
mother will acknowledge her own children to 
possess. 

The earliest instinct manifested by the infant 
being, is, The Desire of Food. This feeling is 
distinct from the pain of hunger. That pain, 
indeed, generates a desire to receive food ; but, 
strictly speaking, the desire, thence arising, is a 
sort of secondary one : — a desire to take food, 
not for its own sake ; but, to the end that the pain 
of hunger may cease. But where this pain has 
never been felt, there exists the desire of food, 
as a primary desire : a craving of 'that positive 
gratification attendant on the reception of food 
into the stomach. The degree in which this 
feeling exists, varies in different individuals : 



32 PHRENOLOGY 

some, even in early infancy, are observed to 
feed eagerly, nay, greedily : and to justify the 
declaration respecting them, that " they live 
only to eat" Such children afford unquestion- 
able evidence of the necessity which exists, 
that this feeling be educated. . Other children 
are seen to feed, only moderately, never appear- 
ing eager for food ; and yet relish, and thrive 
upon, that which the benevolent Author of our 
being, has provided for them. These last, as 
well as the others, manifest, though in a 
smaller degree, the desire of food, — the love of 
feeding : or what, for the sake of convenience, 
Phrenologists term " Alimentiveness." 

Another feeling very early exhibited by an 
infant, is the feeling of affection; — the Instinct 
of Attachment ; or what is phrenologically 
called " Adhesiveness." A child learns, at a 
very early period of its life, to distinguish 
between its mother or nurse, and a stranger ; to 
be pleased in the presence, and by the caresses 
of the former, and to return them with its 
smiles, or embraces ; and by playfully hiding 
its face in those soft pillows which are its 
natural resting places, and from which it is 



IN THE FAMILY. 33 

accustomed to draw its nourishment. This 
feeling is the germ of friendship, and of that 
whole circle of affections which man feels for 
his relatives and associates. 

Another of the feelings of this class may, 
not improperly, be called the Instinct to op- 
pose. Let not mothers be alarmed at the an- 
nunciation ; as if it could not be true, that any 
thing unlovely, could be an original element in 
human nature ; and especially in the nature of 
their gentle babes. Perhaps, when properly 
understood, this feeling may be found, in its 
nature, less unlovely than would appear, in the 
name which we have given it : and especially, 
less so, than in that given to it by Phrenologists, 
— " CoMBATivENESsfi Our infinitely wise Cre- 
ator knows, that in passing through life, we 
should meet with many enemies, and dangers, 
and difficulties, and temptations ; and that it 
was necessary that we should be so far pre- 
pared to meet them, as that our overthrows, or 
defeats, especially in moral conflicts, should not 
be philosophically necessary: — but that we 
should be secured against falls, except by our 
own fault. He accordingly implanted in our 



34 PHRENOLOGY 

nature the instinct of opposition; and thus 
adapted us to the condition in which we are 
placed ; and like all the others of our animal 
feelings, it is wrong only when misdirected, 
and excessive. This is the instinct of courage ; 
— the element of intrepidity ; — the feeling by 
which we are braced to encounter difficulties, 
surmount obstacles, and sweep aside impedi- 
ments. But, Mothers, your infants have never 
been called to this ; and hence you conclude 
that the feeling does not yet exist in them ; 
and therefore, you cannot feel that you are 
called to educate it. But does your child never, 
even though yet an infant, manifest a spirit of 
disobedience — of opposition to your will ? Is 
there never exhibited a disposition to contradict, 
and even to contend ! Here then, is the ele- 
ment whose existence we maintain. 

When we assert that, even in very young 
children, there exists the animal feeling, or 
propensity, which Phrenologists call " Des- 
tructiveness," we shall, not improbably, pro- 
voke a smile of contempt ; and, perhaps, some- 
thing not quite so harmless as even this. 
Well ; " Strike, but hear me." Do not even 



IN' THE FAMILY, 35 

very young children, sometimes evince irrita- 
bleness, ill-temper, a disposition to revenge, 
cruelty, &c? Will they not, early, exhibit an 
inclination to pinch, scratch, bite, pull the hair 
of their companions, and torture flies and other 
insects, by pulling off their wings and legs ? 
This instinct, in a just degree, and rightly 
directed, is necessary to the well being of man: 
it is evil only when excessive, and uncontrolled: 
and we have instanced such excess and mis- 
direction of it, in children, only to prove the 
existence, in them, of this elementary principle 
of human nature ; and to make way for some 
remarks on its education. 

The Instinct to Conceal, is another of the 
elements of human nature, which belong to the 
class under consideration. Its phrenological 
name is " Secretiveness." That all persons 
possess, in some degree, this feeling, is obvious 
from the fact that no person exists, who does 
not, in fact, conceal some things which they 
do, and feel, and design. This feeling is an 
element in what we call prudence, or discretion. 
In some persons it is found in undue proportion; 
and it is thus in some children. In such cases, 



36 PHRENOLOGY 

cunning and duplicity will be evinced, an air of 
secrecy will characterize all the movements of 
the little creature ; and in its attempts to com- 
pass its purposes, it will approach them, not 
directly, but circuitously ; and with a well simu- 
lated indifference and inattention to what may be 
passing, with reference to the objects of its aim. 
The Desire to Possess, is another feeling 
of this class ; and is termed, in phrenological 
language, "Acquisitiveness." One of the 
earliest ideas, which gain possession of the 
mind of a child, is, the idea of property : and 
one of the first words it learns to utter, relative 
to any object, the sight of which excites the 
desire of possession, is, " Mine" It is the 
activity of this feeling which makes children 
desire to have, and try to obtain, things, of the 
use of which they can form no conception. 
Among the lower animals, the squirrel, the 
magpie, and the rat, may be mentioned as 
instances of the great activity of the propensity 
to collect, or hoard up : and every one, who is 
only a little acquainted with the habits of brutes, 
will readily trace each of the above mentioned 
feelings, to one or other animal, who seems 



IN THE FAMILY. 37 

almost an incarnation of it. All the foregoing 
feelings, or instincts, are, in phrenological 
language, called " Propensities." 

We now proceed to particularize the feelings 
which are mediate in their character ; — i. e. 
which are found in some, but not all, of the 
tribes of the lower animals. Now as these are 
less gross, and corporeal, so to speak, than the 
former class, they are termed " Sentiments ;" 
yet as they are inferior in nature, to certain 
other sentiments, (the moral ones) they are 
designated the lower, and the more noble ones, 
the higher sentiments. 

The first is a feeling, or Sentiment, tending 
to Self- Elevation or Self -Prefer erne. No time 
need be employed in illustrating its modes of 
operation; for every watchful mother must 
have observed its activity in her children, even 
though they might be, by no means remarkable 
for its excess. It may seem doubtful, to some 
persons, whether our Maker, has compounded, 
as an element of our nature, a feeling so nearly, 
in appearance at least, allied to that pride 
which he, so solemnly forbids. But it may 
suffice to reply, that it is not the element, or 
3 



38 PHRENOLOGY 

essential principle, which he prohibits : it is 
the excess. The sentiment in question, enters 
essentially into all dignity, and is an ele- 
ment in all self-respect. It is to this very 
sentiment that His own appeal is made, when 
he bids his children, " Walk worthy of the 
vocation with which they are called." The 
phrenological name of this feeling is " Self- 
Esteem. " 

The next sentiment or feeling, in this class, 
is, The Desire of Estimation. Every one 
who has closely observed children, must have 
remarked the difference of degree in which the 
kindred feelings of Pride and Vanity prevail, 
in different individuals: some children are more 
remarkable for pride ; and some for vanity. In 
the former case there is a predominance of 
" Self-Esteem ;" in the latter, of "Love of 
AppROBATioN"or "Approbativeness ;" which 
are the phrenological names of the feeling we 
have called, Desire of Estimation. It is not 
enough to render some children happy, that 
they do right ; — they must be seen to do so, 
and praised for so doing, or they are disap- 
pointed, and dissatisfied. To them is applica- 



IN THE FAMILY. 39 

ble, the language of our Divine Redeemer, 
respecting some of the men of his own day : 
" All their works they do, to be seen of men ;" 
and being lauded for their doings, " they have 
their reward" In different degrees, this is a 
universal feeling. 

The only remaining feeling of this class, is 
a Sentiment of Fear. A perfectly fearless 
character, perhaps, never existed among men : 
and hence, it is plain that the phrenological 
sentiment, " Cautiousness," is really an ele- 
ment in human nature. Some children are 
excessively timid; — needlessly so, and pain- 
fully so ; both to themselves, and their friends: 
and whatever may be the degree in which it 
exists, this feeling requires to be properly 
trained, or educated : in some requiring to be 
excited, and in others to be soothed ; but, in 
all, to be enlightened, and directed to proper 
objects. 

We now come to the enumeration of that 
class of feelings, which are more elevated and 
dignified than any we have yet specified : — 
feelings which only man possesses. These 
are termed, by phrenologists, the Higher, or 



40 PHRENOLOGY 

" Moral Sentiments." They are " Vene- 
ration," " Conscientiousness," and " Bene- 
volence." He who should deny the existence 
of these, in the nature of man, would be 
immediately declared the calumniator of human 
nature. These feelings exist, in every variety 
of degree among men ; but in some degree, they 
are found in all the race. There is in man, 
a natural tendency to venerate whatever, for 
antiquity, and elevation, and dignity, and 
authority, is venerable : there is also, an innate 
sense of a difference between right and wrong; 
-—justice and injustice; and the command, 
" Bender to all their dues" meets with a 
response in the breast of every man, who 
understands the terms in which the precept is 
couched : and, moreover, there is a feeling of 
spontaneous kindness, essentially belonging to 
human nature, which is, occasionally at least, 
active in every one who wears the human form : 
and the activity of this, in the unsophisticated 
samples of human nature, the young of the 
species, or children, no parent can fail to have 
noticed. 

We cannot persuade ourselves to leave this 



IN THE FAMILY. 41 

part of the subject, without noticing the adapt- 
edness of the moral precepts of the Bible, to 
our Moral Sentiments, as ascertained by 
Phrenology. To our moral nature, it was 
necessary that the laws of that nature should 
be adapted : for we could not be subjects of 
moral goverment, unless our nature contained 
elements adapted to moral laws ; and to w r hich 
they were adapted. Now the Bible includes 
the whole duty of man, under obedience to the 
enlightened dictates of these very sentiments : 
" He hath showed thee, O man what is good : 
and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to 
do justly, (Conscientiousness,) to love merey, 
(Benevolence,) and to walk humbly with thy 
God?" (Veneration.) [Mic: 6, 8, 9.] This 
adaptation of the moral laws to these moral 
elements of our nature, is exhibited, in exactly 
the same point of view, by the Apostle Paul ; 
when describing the characteristics of the law ; 
he says it is "holy, (or venerable,) and just, and 
good," or benevolent: tending to the diffusion 
of happiness. He specifies its characteristics 
as being three; and they are such, as corres- 
pond, respectively, with those three highest 
3* 



42 PHRENOLOGY 

feelings of our nature, which constitute us 
moral agents ; or fit subjects to receive such a 
law, and to live under a government based on 
it. 

In addition to these highest, or authoritative 
Sentiments, are others, which require to be 
mentioned. These are the feeling of " Hope," 
which is constantly looking for something better 
than the present ; and thus prevents satisfaction 
with prosperity, and despondency under adver- 
sity : — " Firmness," or a tenaciousness of 
purpose : — " Wonder," or the belief of what 
is, nevertheless, incomprehensible ; or, at 
least, impenetrably mysterious : Imagination, 
or, phrenologically speaking, " Ideality," 
which is the sense, or perception, of the perfect 
and beautiful in nature or art ; and finally, the 
sense or feeling of the ludicrous, which phre- 
nologists Call " MlRTHFTTLNESS." 

All the particulars enumerated in these three 
classes, are Feelings ; and to excite them to 
activity, it is only necessary to present to them 
their appropriate objects. But there are times 
when they require to be controlled, or stimu- 
lated ; and being, in themselves blind, they 



IN THE FAMILY. 43 

always require to be directed. That we may 
know when to stimulate, and when to control 
them, and which, at given times, to treat thus, 
and by what means, and in what direction, to 
guide them, we require, and are accordingly, 
furnished with another set of faculties, viz : 
The Intellectual Faculties. These, like 
the feelings, are divided into two classes. The 
perceptive, or knowing faculties ; and the re- 
flecting faculties. 

The knowing or perceptive faculties, are 
again divided into such as cognize or perceive 
objects, individual and separate material things* 
and beings ; — their form, size, color, arrange- 
ment, and number ; and such as cognize 
occurrences or events ; their time, or succession 
to each other; and their place; and some 
other accidents connected with them; together 
with the conventional signs, or words, by 
which these various attributes and phenomena 
are expressed. And even the reflecting facul- 
ties, though they are but two in number, have 
offices or functions distinct from each other ; 
and hence, appear to require division. One is 
the faculty which perceives resemblances 



44 PHRENOLOGY 

between known things and principles ; and 
hence, reasons analogically, and by illustration ; 
while the other, more severe in its character, 
discovers and traces necessary consequences ; 
or the connexion between cause and effect ; 
tracing causes out to their consequences ; and 
consequences back to their causes. It is the 
activity of this faculty which leads many 
children so frequently to ask the causes for 
the appearances they see in nature : " Why 
does the sky look blue ?" " What makes 
some clouds look dark, and others bright?" 
" Where do the bubbles come from, which 
rise from the bottom of the kettle, when it 
boils ?" 

In order to our readers profiting by this 
extended enumeration of the elements of human 
nature, or the materials upon which we have 
to operate, in the early training of children, it 
is indispensable that the following principles 
be const anily borne in mind ; and we hope 
that before proceeding further, mothers will 
work them into the very texture, so to speak, 
of their own minds. 



IN THE FAMILY, 45 

1. Every sane individual possesses them 
all ; But, yet, 

2. They are possessed, in every variety of 
degree, by different individuals. 

3. They belong to our nature; or are innate. 
They cannot be annihilated, nor created: though 
they may be controlled, or modified, and 
stimulated. 

4. They are capable of simultaneous, or 
combined activity ; and also of individual, or 
separate activity. 

5. They are not all of the same rank, or 
dignity, or authority : the reflecting faculties 
are superior to the observing ones, and the 
moral feelings, superior to the animal ones. 

The foregoing are principles which lie at the 
foundation of the philosophy and morality of 
Phrenology ; and their importance, in the 
application of it to education, can scarcely be 
too highly estimated. 



46 PHRENOLOGY 



CHAPTER IV. 

PRACTICAL ERRORS CONCERNING EARLY EDUCATION. 

Having presented to view, the classes of 
faculties which belong to the nature of Man ; 
shown their relative importance and dignity ; 
and given a catalogue of the principal individual 
faculties in each class ; we pause a moment, 
and ask any intelligent, and reflecting mother, 
which of these classes of faculties, and which 
individual faculty, in any of them, does not 
require education ? If we look at facts, how- 
ever, we shall be ready to conclude, that there 
prevails, almost universally, a practical belief 
that nearly all of them may, safely, be left 
uneducated, and that those which are admitted 
to require education, should receive it elsewhere 
than at home. Our position is, that all the 
faculties of our nature require to be educated ; 
trained to such kinds and degrees of activity, 
as are proper to them ; and to that activity, in 



IN THE FAMILY. 47 

such a direction as shall secure the due develop- 
ment of them all ; and the approbation of Him 
who has endowed us with them. We contend, 
also, that home is the appropriate place in 
which for education to have its commence- 
ment; and that parents, but especially mothers, 
are the divinely appointed, and responsible 
instructors. 

These positions will not, probably, be dis- 
tinctly disputed, or even questioned, in so 
many words : but we meet with a practical 
denial of them, in the conduct of almost all 
persons, to whom God has given children. It 
is a fact, that all the faculties are not attempted 
to be educated ; — it is not even proposed to 
educate any but the Intellectual Faculties ; and 
the education of even these, is little attended to, 
till the child is put in charge of the professional 
Teacher ; and it is thought just and right, that 
until the child is put under his care, that course 
of instruction through which it is designed that 
he shall pass, should not have even its com- 
mencement. So that the Teacher (than whom, 
when faithful and intelligent, there is no human 
being to whom parents are under greater 



48 PHRENOLOGY 

obligations) instead of finding the soil which 
he is expected to cultivate, prepared to his hand 
by judicious and careful culture, at home ; finds 
it overrun with noxious weeds, which it re- 
quires much time and great labor to eradicate ; 
even if it be, at all, possible to remove them : 
and then begins to sow the seeds of instruction, 
in a soil hardened by the neglect with which 
it has been treated : and where he ought to 
have found the young plants, prepared for his 
hand ; and waiting only for his fostering and 
directing attention. 

But we object, not only to the general 
neglect of instruction at home, and to the 
manifest injustice to the teacher, and injury 
to the child, of committing to the former, the 
work of training the latter, with its mind a 
wilderness, when it should have been a garden : 
we complain that education, as, at present, 
professionally conducted, is not what it pro- 
fesses to be ; nor what it is capable of becom- 
ing : — this blessing is not, in fact, afforded to 
all, even of those faculties (the Intellectual 
ones) which it professes to cultivate : — indeed, 
it is afforded to only a very few of them. It is 



IN THE FAMILY. 49 

afforded to the faculty of " language," or 
verbal memory, — the knowledge of convention- 
al sounds, or words: (i. e. in Reading:) — to 
" number," or the faculty of calculation ; (in 
arithmetic ;) — to " constructiveness," or the 
faculty of using instruments or tools ; (in 
Writing and Drawing:) — and perhaps, to one 
or two others. This is Education, as far as it 
goes : but " the training of the Intellectual 
faculties," must include the due exercise of 
them all. 

And the practical denial of our position, that 
the work of education is to begin at home, 
extends, often, to the more important portion 
of our nature, — the Moral Feelings. The 
training and culture of these seems to be 
considered as belonging, exclusively to the 
Minister ; or, at most, to be divided, between 
him and the Sabbath School Teacher. But 
what can these accomplish, except as they are 
auxiliaries to parents in the work of moral 
culture ? Indeed, one reason why the labors 
of both these classes of instructors are not more 
successful, is, that they are not assisted, in 
their benevolent efforts, by the co-operation of 



50 PHRENOLOGY 

home instruction. The Minister in two or 
three discourses a week, (a very small portion 
of which is addressed to children, or would be 
understood by them) together with the Sabbath 
School Teacher (in the intercourse, often, of not 
more than one hour weekly,) cannot perform 
the work of education to the Moral Feelings. 
It must be done at home, or it will, assuredly, 
be left undone ; and at home the greater portion 
of it must be performed by mothers. 

Nor is the case better, with regard to the 
Animal Feelings. How very few intelligent 
attempts are made to give to these feelings any 
education at all ! It is almost never attempted, 
except at home ; — seldom is it attempted, even 
there, and when the effort is made, it is scarcely 
ever made intelligently: i. e. with a true 
knowledge of the elements which enter into 
the nature of the child ;« the proper mode in 
which to operate on those elements ; and the 
proper means with which so to operate. 

And yet, to parents is committed this im- 
portant duty ;— a duty scarcely less laborious, 
than it is important. Children manifest several 
of the feelings and faculties which we have 



IX THE FAMILY. §1 

enumerated, before they are of an age to go 
from home for instruction ; and this fact indi- 
cates the design of the Creator, that the early- 
education of them should be performed at 
home; and it shows, at the same time, how- 
important it is that the education received at 
home, should be conducted aright ; — conducted 
according to the nature of the being who is to 
receive instruction : for that only, deserves the 
name of Education, which is characterized by 
this adaptation. It is, indeed, a fact, that 
parents do give instruction to the Propensities, 
and Intellect, and Moral Feelings of their 
children ; i. e. they teach them severally, to 
act ; but alas ! in the large majority of cases, 
they teach them to act erroneously ; and even 
injuriously. It may not be improper, here 
to introduce a passage from a work on this 
subject, by the Rev. Christopher Anderson, o i 
Edinburgh ; — " The Genius and Design of the 
Domestic Constitution." His language is as 
follows : 

" In the laudable anxiety of their hearts, two 
Parents, with a family of infants playing around 
their feet, are heard to say — ■ Oh ! what will — 



0% rriKfiNOLOGY 

what can best educate these dear children? I 
reply — Look to yourselves, and your circum- 
stances. * * * * Your example will educate 
them ; — your conversation with your friends ; — 
the business they see you transact ; — the likings 
and dislikings you express ; — these will educate 
them ; the society you live in, wilt educate 
them ; — your domestics will educate them ; 
and whatever be your rank or situation in life, 
your house, your table, and your behaviour 
there, these will educate them. To withdraw 
them from the unceasing and potent influence 
of these things is impossible, except you were 
to withdraw yourself from them also. Some 
parents talk of beginning the education of their 
children : — the moment they are capable of 
forming an idea, their education is already 
begun : — the education of circumstances — in- 
sensible education, which, like insensible per- 
spiration, is of more constant and powerful 
effect, and of far more consequence to the 
habit, than that which is direct and apparent. 
Its education goes on at every instant of time ; 
it goes on like time — you can neither stop it, 
nor turn its course. Whatever these, then, 



IN THE FAMILY. 53 

have a tendency to make your children, that, 
in a great degree, you, at least, should be per- 
suaded they will be." 

To some of the particulars referred to, in the 
foregoing passage, we shall have occasion, 
hereafter, to revert: it may suffice, here, to 
observe, that no reflecting person can question 
the correctness of the sentiments ; — the truth 
of the observation ; nor will any one who ad- 
mits their truth, question the correctness of the 
opinion we have advanced, that the instruction 
actually given to the various faculties of the 
infant mind, is given ignorantly, by example, 
and circumstances ; without the knowledge, on 
the part of the parents, that it is given : or if the 
fact be adverted to, that the child is instructed by 
these, no care is taken to secure the presence of 
an example which may be safely imitated, and of 
circumstances, which shall have a healthful in- 
fluence. Instead of the education, arising from 
these agencies, being a systematic course of 
procedure, upon known principles, carefully 
adapted to a certain end, and as skilfully direct- 
ed towards it, an end is secured — an education 
4# 



54 PHRENOLOGY 

given, which, not only was not designed ; but 
which is, in many particulars, the very reverse 
of what is wished ; and if, in any thing, it is 
such as might be desired, this is the result, 
almost wholly, of accident; and is as unlikely 
to be repeated, in a given case, as that a child, 
at play with a box of letters, not one of which 
he knows, should twice, in succession, so ar- 
range certain of them, as to spell a particular 
word. 



CHAPTER V. 

EDUCATION DURING INFANCY. 

Early education may be divided into two 
periods : Infancy and Childhood. The first 
may extend, with some children, to one age, and 
with others to another : for it is a mistake to 
suppose that this period can be precisely indi- 
cated by months, or years, so as to be applicable, 
alike, to all children. Some children are fre- 



IN THE FAMILY. 55 

quently said to be more " forward" than others ; 
and this language is applicable to the manifes- 
tation of the feelings and intellect ; as well as 
to corporeal developement. With some children 
it may extend from the birth to six months 
old ; and in others may be extended a year, or 
eighteen months, or even to two years. 

We have already stated, in the fundamental 
principles laid down, at the close of Chapter 
III. that all the faculties are innate, or belong 
to our nature ; and that all are found in some 
degree, in every sane individual. It will be 
obvious, therefore, that no one of them can be 
either created, or annihilated. Education must 
not be expected to accomplish either one or 
the other : and the assertion, sometimes made, 
that it is education which makes all the differ- 
ences which exist, either between nations, or 
Individuals of the same nation, is to be received 
with considerable limitations. Education may 
stimulate, or enfeeble the faculties and feelings : 
and its legitimate office is, to stimulate the 
faculties which are feeble, and ought to be 
powerful ; and to enfeeble those which are 
energetic, and require to be weak, or subordi- 



56 PHRENOLOGY 

nate. It is the proper province of education, 
to cultivate the Intellectual Faculties, and the 
Moral Sentiments, and to control the animal 
and Selfish Feelings : — it is intended to train 
the Intellect to observe, and to reflect; the 
Moral Feelings, (when enlightened by Intellect 
and Revelation) to command ; and the Animal 
and Selfish ones to obey. 

The feelings earliest manifested, by the in- 
fant subject of education, are animal ones ; and, 
of course, these are the earliest to be subjected 
to discipline. Indeed, as soon as a feeling is 
manifested, so soon should it be disciplined. 
But discipline is not, necessarily, coercion ; 
and we cannot, therefore, subscribe to the 
opinions of some strenuous advocates for dis- 
cipline, who maintain the propriety of coercion, 
yes, even of stripes, in the case of infants, only 
a few weeks old. Such discipline we cannot 
believe, ever, to be necessary ; and are per- 
suaded it cannot be useful ; and if useless and 
needless, it cannot be otherwise than injurious. 

The earliest instinct manifested by the in- 
fant being, is the Desire of Food; — " alimen- 
tiveness." And here, we must be permitted 



IX THE FAMILY. 57 

to observe, that the order of nature is virtually 
reversed ; in consequence of the ignorance of 
mothers and nurses, themselves : so reversed, 
as that the babe would, if it might, impart 
instruction to its seniors. In the newly born 
infant, nature appears unsophisticated : and 
when its cravings for food are satisfied, it 
spontaneously relinquishes its hold, on the 
vehicle of its reception. In fact, the child 
knows, better than the parent, when he has 
had sufficient food ; and indicates that he is 
satisfied, by declining to receive more. But 
maternal fondness, ("Philoprogenitiveness") 
a feeling, in itself blind, like all the other mere 
feelings, conceives that more food would be 
gratifying, and may be necessary, to the child ; 
and to induce him to receive it, " alimentive- 
ness," in the infant, is. in various ways stimu- 
lated. Now this is a capital error : the feeling 
stimulated is an animal one ; — one of a class 
which, already, possess undue energy ; and 
are properly educated, by diminishing, not 
increasing their activity. But the presentation, 
to any faculty, of a stimulus, does increase its 
action ; and thus, progressively, its power of 



58 PHRENOLOGY 

action. So, in the present case, by means of 
the stimulant (sugar or spice, or what not) 
" alimentiveness" is re-excited, after having 
been satisfied ; and a further portion of food is 
received into the stomach : and not only is the 
cerebral organ of the feeling in question, in- 
creased in size,. by the excitement furnished 
through the stimulus ; but the stomach is, in 
some measure, distended, by the additional food 
forced into it. This enlargement is, to some 
extent, permanent; and of course, there 13 
space for the reception of a larger portion of 
food at the next meal. To receive this larger 
portion, there is, also, a stronger inclination ; 
in consequence of the increased activity of the 
organ of the feeling. This increased desire 
for food is again gratified, and still further 
stimulated ; and this process is repeated from 
day to day, until in after life, the parent dis- 
covers, to her sorrow, that the child of her 
affections is greedy for food ; anxious for it, 
whenever it is in sight ; absorbed in the mere 
pleasure of eating, when partaking of food ; 
and in one word, an incipient glutton. She 
bewails her hard fate ; but she " has rewarded 



IN THE FAMILY. 59 

evil unto herself." It is a law of our nature, — 
it is the fiat of the Almighty, — that an animal 
Feeling, in man, shall be strengthened by in- 
dulgence ; and " Alimentiveness" is such a 
feeling. A course of conduct has been pursued, 
contrary to the will of the Creator ; and the 
consequence resulting, is the penalty which he 
has annexed to transgression. It is the natural 
consequence of the conduct of the parent ; and 
it is a righteous consequence ; even though 
she knew it not ; because she is endowed with 
faculties for obtaining knowledge of it ; and is 
bound to employ them. Hence we perceive 
the indispensable necessity, in order to a 
proper education of the human being, that those 
who conduct it should possess definite and 
positive knowledge of the nature of man, and 
of the effects of a given course of procedure, 
on any of the innate elements of that nature. 

The next feeling the activity of which is ex- 
hibited in Infancy, is " Adhesiveness," or the 
Instinct of Attachment. Words are called the 
signs of ideas ; and to the man, and even to the 
child, they are such : but words are artificial 
signs of ideas ; and with these the infant is, as 



60 PHRENOLOGY 

yet, unacquainted. Long before he can utter 
these, or even understand them, he can feel 
emotions, and has means of expressing them, 
though not in words. The emotion of affection 
he early experiences ; and the natural language 
of that emotion he frequently exhibits. With 
how much delight does he look up into his 
mother's face, (after having satisfied his hunger 
from her breast,) and smile, and then playfully 
bury his face in the bosom on which he rests I 
And how obvious is the satisfaction he derives 
from her affectionate pressure and caresses. 
In some children this feeling is exceedingly 
strong ; and in almost all of them it is among 
the strongest. 

And how can we sufficiently admire the 
wisdom and goodness of our glorious Maker, 
in calling into exercise the powerful, unwearied,, 
exhaustless instinct of paternal love, at a time 
when the helplessness of its object renders es- 
pecially necessary its activity; — in causing it 
to be excited by that very helplessness ; — and 
in securing so early a reward for its exercise, 
in the manifest attachment of the child ! This 
attachment calls forth new gushes of maternal 



IN THE FAMILY. 61 

love ; and this process is continually repeated, 
because there is continued need for the exercise 
of this love, in order to secure the well-being 
of its object. 

No intelligent mother can be ignorant of the 
immense influence over her child, which she 
derives from his affection towards herself: and 
no such mother, who knows it, will fail to 
endeavour to retain this influence, and watch 
for the occasions to exert it for his benefit. 
Some mothers, of strong Intellect, have, in 
after life, made this single feeling of attach- 
ment to herself, the cord by which to hold back 
a wayward son from temporal ruin, and many 
are the cases in which it has subserved the 
higher end, of conducting such sons even to 
the Saviour's feet. Cecil, in recording his 
own experience, of the use his wise and pious 
mother made, of her knowledge that he tender- 
ly loved her, says, " When parental influence 
does not convert, it hampers. It hangs on the 
wheels of evil. I had a pious mother, who 
dropped things in my way. I could never rid 
myself of them. I was a professed infidel, but 
then, I liked to be an infidel in company, 
5 



62 PHRENOLOGY 

rather than when alone, I was wretched when 
by myself. These maxims, and principles, 
and data spoiled my jollity. * * * * * My 
mother would talk to me, and weep as she 
talked. I flung out of the house, with an 
oath; — but wept too, when I got into the 
street." This case speaks loudly and distinct- 
ly of the power which the affection of a child 
places in a mother's hand. The following is a 
similar instance. 

Some years since a fine young man, " the 
only son of his mother, and she was a widow," 
on becoming of age, and receiving his patri- 
mony, entered into company, and indulged in 
the dissipations of genteel society. Her watch- 
ful eye saw his danger ; and she pointed out 
its tendency to ruin both body and soul : and 
used every argument, persuasion, and entreaty, 
to induce him to relinquish it ; but in vain. 
One day she learned that he was to dine with a 
large and jovial party, and she spent the fore- 
noon in entreating him to break his engagement : 
but it was useless. " Mother, " said he, " I 
will go!" " Then, John, replied the widowed 
parent, " I will retire to my closet, and pray 



IN THE FAMILY. 63 

for you, till I see your face again. " He went 
to the party ; but could find no enjoyment : — 
the thought of his mother, on her knees, wrest- 
ling with God in prayer for him, formed such 
a contrast to the scene before him, that he 
slipped away — found his mother in the act of 
prayer, — knelt by her side, fell on her neck, 
and from that day, became the delight of his 
pious mother's heart. It was the operation of 
the feeling under consideration ; — the Instinct 
of Attachment; the activity of a powerful 
Adhesiveness, which haunted him with the 
vision of his kneeling mother, praying for him, 
and which rendered, not merely insipid, but 
disgusting, all the gaiety and frivolity of that 
jovial meeting ; — which withdrew him from 
the circle of dissipation, and ultimately brought 
him to the path of goodness and truth* — the 
Saviour's footstool. 

In the early education of this feeling, care 
should be taken that it be not needlessly pained. 
It is a principle in Phrenology, that pleasure is 
the result of the exercise of any faculty. But 
a faculty cannot act, except on its appropriate 
object ; and to deprive a faculty of its proper 



64 



PHRENOLOGY 



object, is, of course, to inflict suffering. The 
same effect is produced, when the individual 
supposes that the object on which any of its 
faculties delightfully operates, has been removed 
or lost. This is the case with the faculty or 
instinct of Adhesiveness. It is, therefore, 
exceedingly wrong, injurious, and cruel, to 
endeavour to persuade a child that his mother 
does not love him ; or that she will exchange 
him for some other Uttle boy : or that a brother 
or sister is beloved more than himself. Often, 
very often, is this done in mere thoughtlessness ; 
and for this no apology can be offered : but 
where, as is sometimes the case, it is done in 
wantonness, and from a desire to give pain, it 
cannot be too severely censured. 

The injuriousness of such a course of treat- 
ment is obvious, as goon as we look upon its 
effect on the child. Its " Love of Approbation" 
is keenly pained. The little one is told, that 
another possesses that place in his mother's 
affection, which he did possess, and which he 
has not forfeited by any act of disobedience, or 
transgression. His sense of justice or his 
" Conscientiousness' ' is indignant at this out- 



IN THE FAMILY. 65 

rage on his rights. His " Combativeness," or 
instinct to oppose, is roused to contend for his 
violated and valued rights, and* against the real 
or supposed invader of them : as also, is its 
kindred faculty, " Destructiveness ; " which 
turns on his rival, whether brother, sister, play- 
mate, or stranger. Thus arise at once Anger, 
Envy, and Revenge, in their germs, and 
essence. 

But this is not the whole amount of the 
mischief: The mother suffers in the child's 
esteem : his confidence in her is no longer 
entire, and unlimited : she has (as he is made 
to believe) unjustly withdrawn her love from 
him : and he cannot trust her as before. 
Mothers, can you bear to be regarded with 
distrust, by the children of your affection ? 
Will you baiter their entire, confiding love, for 
the pleasure of seeing them angry, envious, 
and revengeful ? Beware then, how you pain 
their " Adhesiveness." Let them be taught, 
by all your conduct, even before they can un- 
derstand your language, that no child of another 
family is so loved as themselves; and that you 
love not them at all the less, for having others, 
5* 



66 PHRENOLOGY 

whether older or younger, as the objects of 
your affectionate regard. Alas ! how numerous 
are the cases ir* which a permanently and in- 
corrigibly bad temper has been originated, by 
the conduct to which we have here adverted. 

We have all along supposed that the evil in 
question has been traceable to the mother her- 
self; but it may be otherwise. It may have 
proceeded from the other parent ; or from an 
elder sister or brother ; or from a misguided, 
though well-meaning domestic. In all cases 
except the first named, it will certainly be the 
mother's duty to interpose her authority, to 
prevent the infliction of pain and injury, on an 
innocent being, so tenderly dear to her : and in 
the first case, we are confident, that an intelli- 
gent and affectionate husband and father will 
need no inducement to abandon the mischievous 
course, beyond a mere glance at the conse- 
quences which must result from it. 

And there is one other consequence, not so 
immediately connected with suffering inflicted 
on the child, as with injury done to him, in his 
moral interests, which, before we leave the 
subject, we will mention : viz : His regard for 



IX THE FAMILY. 67 

truth is weakened. Some persons will smile at 
the idea of the moral interests of an infant 
being injured; and his regard for truth being 
weakened ; but let them smile : — we are assured 
that there is but too much ground for our ap- 
prehension in this case. The child, when 
sufficiently tortured by the treatment referred 
to, to satisfy the mind of his torturer that it 
should be no longer continued, is soothed ; 
and, it may be, satisfied that his mother does 
love him as well as before ; — that she will not 
change him for another boy, and that, therefore, 
he has not been injured, as he had supposed ; 
but what is the effect of this, upon his moral 
feelings ? — for of these he has the germs ; and 
they act, as soon as he can form an idea. Does 
he not suppose that it is lawful to say one thing, 
and mean another ? — that falsehood, in fact, is 
not a serious evil ; if, even, it be one at all ? 
for his parents and friends utter it : and a child 
takes for granted, that what its parents do, is 
not wrong. Thus is the almost embryo feeling 
of " Conscientiousness" enfeebled ; and those 
of u Seeretiveness," and " Imitation" excite*d 
to activity ; and the child learns, in its very 



OS PHRENOLOGY 

cradle, and from its parents themselves, its 
earliest lessons in deception and falsehood and 
hypocrisy; — evils for the practice of which, 
in after life, it is to suffer severe punishment ; 
and not improbably, may cost its eternal happi- 
ness. " Behold, how great a matter a little fire 
kindleth :" how great a stream issues from an 
apparently insignificant fountain ! 

We now advance to the consideration of 
another feeling discovered in infancy, the edu- 
cation of which should, of course, therefore, 
be commenced at that peri >d : — Anger. This 
feeling is not simple in its nature ; but com- 
pounded of the activity of " Destruetiveness," 
and " Combativeness." Its compound nature 
will be explained by a reference to the close of 
the third chapter ; (Fundamental Principles No. 
4.) — both the feelings, just mentioned, are 
active simultaneously, in a case of Anger. In 
some children there is a very strong natural 
tendency to this compound feeling : — they are, 
so to speak, of an inflammable disposition : a 
mere spark is sufficient to enkindle them ; and 
many waters are insufficient to extinguish the 
fire. 



IN THE FAMILY. 69 

The education of this feeling in such children, 
is no easy task. A hint, as to the correct course, 
in thi3 difficult duty, may be derived from the 
illustration we have given of the disposition of 
such children. As they are inflammable, they 
must, as much as possible, be kept from the 
presence of what would enkindle them : if 
possible, not even a spark must come in contact 
with them, lest they explode. Or, to speak 
without a figure. In the education of this 
feeling, we must keep constantly before our 
mind, this great principle ; viz : That Anger 
is an animal feeling, and that it is the will of 
our Maker, that animal feelings should be edu- 
cated to obey. In order to accomplish this, 
measures must be taken to enfeeble the feeling. 
But the inquiry now presents itself : What are 
the measures, the adoption of which will secure 
this result? This question may be answered 
by another, analogous to it : — What measures 
would be taken, if it were desirable to decrease 
the strength of a limb of the body ? Would 
an attempt be made to wear it feeble, by fre- 
quent and energetic use ? This might and 
would, by each effort, produce weariness, but 



70 PHRENOLOGY 

not feebleness : — on the contrary, this alterna- 
tion of labor and repose would result in the 
increased vigor of the limb ; and every renewed 
exertion of its power, would be an exertion of 
augmented, power. This course then is not 
wise. 

Instead of this, let the limb be inactive, for 
a time : — let there be no occasion for the ex- 
ertion of its strength : — let its muscles not 
only not be exerted; but let them not be 
exercised; not even used ; and the result will 
speedily be, a decrease of power; and even a 
difficulty, and ultimately an impossibility, of 
use. This is actually seen, in the feeble and 
sickly frames, of persons of good natural con- 
stitution, but whose habits, or pursuits, or in- 
clinations are unfavourable to bodily exercise : 
but it is seen in all its terrible extremes, in the 
case of the superstitious Fakir of India, whose 
withered limbs become immoveable and useless, 
as if made of wood, or marble, in consequence 
of his carrying out his purpose, never to remove 
them from some certain assumed position. 
We are, now, perhaps, prepared to reply to the 



IN THE FAMILY. 71 

question. How shall we enfeeble the feeling 
of Anger, in the infant subject of education ? 

It must be done by keeping it still: — pre- 
venting, if possible, its excitement ; and if un- 
fortunately, it should be excited, quiet it as soon 
as possible. But this must not, and cannot, 
be done by force: the employment of this, 
will only excite, and thus increase, the feeling : 
it may at length weary and wear it out, tem- 
porarily ; but after repose, it will be prepared 
to ;< awake like a giant refreshed with new 
wine." The caprices of even an infant's anger 
must not be ministered unto ; but until he is of 
an age to be reasoned with, it is best silently 
to remove the provocation ; and sedulously to 
watch against its future presentation. A fail- 
ure to do this, is perhaps, the cause why we so 
frequently hear parents complain of the fretful- 
ness and impatience of their children when a 
year or two old ; and affirm (truly, too, without 
doubt, in many cases) that, for the first few 
months of their lives they were perfectly good- 
tempered. The first exhibitions of temper 
were not treated as we recommend, but in an 
opposite manner ; and thus the seed was made to 



72 PHRENOLOGY 

germinate ; and subsequent steps in the training 
adopted, changed the seed into a plant, and 
alas ! (for evil) a fruitful one. This evil con- 
sequence results, sometimes, from entrusting the 
care of an infant to an injudicious attendant: 
children are, themselves, sometimes made the 
attendants of children; and by them, they are not 
unfrequently neglected, teased, and provoked. 
A sour, fretful, impatient, irritable disposition is 
thus originated, in the infancy of a child, and 
without the knowledge of the mother, which 
proves to her a source of surprise, at first, and 
of affliction afterwards : and which cleaves to 
him, probably, to the latest period of his life. 
We shall find it necessary to revert to this feel- 
ing and to some following ones, on a future 
page ; when we treat of the early education of 
Childhood. 

" Acquisitiveness," or the desire to possess, 
is not unfrequently quite active in Infancy. 
Injudicious treatment may, in fact, stimulate it. 
Parents and nurses, to quiet a crying child, will 
sometimes offer it something attractive and 
valuable, which it ought not to have. At 
another time the child desires the same thing. 



IN THE FAMILY. 73 

and possession is refused. Now this is incon- 
sistency, in the education of this feeling. It is 
natural for the little one to desire a thing, the 
possession of which has afforded him gratifica- 
tion : and equally so, for him to suppose that, 
since he has been indulged, he may be indulged 
again. Hence he interprets refusal as the act 
of unkindness, or caprice. Is it not injudicious, 
unkind, and even, in a sense, cruel, to excite 
a desire which must not be gratified? But, 
moreover, such a course as that first pursued, 
actually stimulates the feeling in question, by 
gratifying it : and many are the instances in 
which a mother has reaped a large harvest of 
anguish, when witnessing, inher child, avarice, 
stubbornness, passion, and pride, the seeds of 
which her own hand scattered, by the indul- 
gence, in infancy, of the feeling in question. 
The infant, under its influence, cannot be rea- 
soned with ; and the best course is, generally, to 
remove him to another room, where the 
presence of new objects may efface the recol- 
lection of the desired one ; and thus render the 
desire inactive. 

" Firmness," or tenacity of purpose, is 
6 



74 PHRENOLOGY 

another of the feelings which discover them- 
selves in Infancy ; and it exists, sometimes, in 
great energy. We often see young children of 
whom it is said, between jest and earnest, that 
" they have a will of their oivn." The educa- 
tion of this feeling is highly important, and at 
the same time, somewhat difficult. Some 
parents, foreseeing the evils which will arise 
from its prevalence, determine on overpowering 
it, as soon as it is exhibited ; and, accordingly, 
adopt strong measures for that purpose. But, 
let it be remembered that it is an innate feeling, 
and cannot be eradicated, or annihilated : and, 
therefore, it is useless to attempt this : and if 
the feeling be particularly strong in the child, 
it cannot be overpowered : it can only be watch- 
ed, modified, and enfeebled. To attempt, in 
such a case, to overpower it, is productive of 
an increase of its strength : especially if " Com- 
battveness" be also strong : for both these 
feelings are excitedby opposition. In educating 
this feeling, therefore, this should always be 
borne in mind, and the conduct of the mother 
should be regulated accordingly. It is impos- 
sible to address the Intellect, and Moral Senti- 



IN THE FAMILY. 75 

ments of the infant, on account of his tender 
age : and until this can be done, it is better 
silently to yield your preference. Here, as in 
the case of the other Animal Feelings, the great 
point to be accomplished is, to enfeeble the 
feeling, by keeping it inactive. Be careful how 
you take ground yourself ; for to take it, and 
afterwards, to relinquish it, would be to give a 
conquest to this feeling in your child ; and, be 
assured, he will know how to improve it, 
another time. On the other hand, by a wise 
and careful course, endeavour to prevent his 
taking ground. In either of these cases, a 
contest is inevitable ; and it must always 
strengthen the feeling in question. 

The Feelings are not the only faculties which 
develope themselves in the infant child ; — the 
Intellect, also, begins, at this early age, to un- 
fold itself: indeed the incipient workings of 
the observing intellect, are discernible at an 
extremely early age. The objects of observa- 
tion may be comprised under two heads ; Ex- 
istences, and Occurrences : It is not Existence, 
in the sense either of Being, or Creation, that 



76 PHRENOLOGY 

we mean ; but the beings, (things and persons) 
which exist. 

Our Maker has, so to speak, divided the 
material creation around us, into an infinite 
multitude of separate portions ; and from the 
endless variety of their properties and qualities, 
it is plain that He intends we shall form an ac- 
quaintance with them, seriatim, or in succes- 
sion. Accordingly they are presented, some 
at a time, before us ; and we no sooner use our 
external senses, than we employ them, as the 
instruments of acquiring knowledge of the 
things and beings around us. But since God 
has, as it were, parcelled out the material 
Universe around us, it is reasonable to suppose 
that He has so constituted our nature, as to 
adapt it to this arrangement of his wisdom : i. 
e. that He has bestowed *on us, faculties design- 
ed to take cognizance of these several objects, 
and the events which befal them : and that as 
the one exist, and the other occur in our pre- 
sence, in early infancy, even the infant being 
should possess faculties which can take cogni- 
zance of both. Now the intellectual faculties 
called "Individuality," and " Eventuality," 



IN THE FAMILY. 77 

perform these functions ; the former cognizing 
existences, i. e. persons, beings, and things ; 
and the latter occurrences, i. e. events, ox what 
befals the before mentioned existences. And 
the infant being has only been a few days in 
the world, before he gives evidence of the ex- 
istence and activity of both faculties. The 
following passage, from a work* republished in 
this country, from an English publication, is 
valuable, as exhibiting the activity of these two 
faculties ; though the language employed is 
(perhaps designedly) not Phrenological. 

" But let us turn to the consideration of 
the infant itself. When it first awakens to 
existence in this world, there is a rush of new 
and peculiar sensations, demanding attention. 
The agitated motion of its lungs must appear 
strange, and almost terrifying; — the cold air 
upon its face, and the pressure of dress upon 
its limbs, the unusual and perplexing sounds of 
voices and motion which strikes its ear ; — and 
the burst of dazzling light which pours in upon 



* The Mother's Friend. Leavitt, Lord & Co., New 
York. 

6* 



78 PHRENOLOGY 

its sight, when it raises, accidentally the veil 
heretofore constantly drawn before its eyes ; — 
all these feelings burst upon its attention, in 
bewildering and inextricable confusion. 

" The little being does not understand what 
are the avenues of these various sensations. 
It has no conception that light comes in through 
the eye, or hearing through the ear. It grasps 
whatever is placed in its hand, by a sort of in- 
voluntary closing of the fingers, but it has no 
idea from what part of the body that peculiar 
feeling comes in. In a moment it/elaxes the 
hold, and the object is lost; — it misses then, 
perhaps, the peculiar feeling it excited, but it 
does not know why. It is pleased w T ith the 
bright light of the windows, coming in through 
its opened eye, and when it accidentally drops 
the lid, it does not know why the beautiful 
spectacle has disappeared. Sounds will very 
early attract its notice ; it will be still to hear 
them ; but it is long before it learns that the ear 
is the instrument by which it obtains the pleas- 
ure. 

" The first great lesson of existence, then, 
is a lesson of the senses. The few moments 



IN THE FAMILY. 79 

each day, which the demands of food and 
slumber leave unoccupied, are busily employed 
in endeavours to understand these mysterious 
feelings : to separate the mass of sensations 
which crowd upon it, into their several kinds ; 
to learn that sight comes in through the eye, 
and hearing through the ear, and touch through 
the hand. 

" If this is correct, we should suppose that 
the mother might do much to assist the infant 
in these first steps. For a day or two after 
birth, the only progress which can possibly be 
made, is for the infant to become a little famil- 
iarized to its new condition. Its attention is 
so occupied, probably, with the sense of feel- 
ing, from pressure of clothes, and the contact 
of air, and other similar causes, that it must 
pay little attention to the other senses. It is, 
perhaps, best to leave the others at rest, and 
not to endeavour to make it open its eyes, or 
listen to sounds, but to leave it to accustom 
itself to its new condition. In a few days, 
however, the mother will probably discover, 
that at some happy moment, when it is free 
from uneasiness and plain, it will lie and gaze 



80 PHRENOLOGY 

steadily at some object of vision, — a lamp, a 
window, or a white curtain. When this is the 
case, let the room be kept perfectly still. Do 
nothing to divert its attention. It is certain 
that, at such a time, it is making rapid progress 
in the elements of the art of vision/' and, we 
would add, is employing the earliest experi- 
ments in that art, in acquiring acquaintance 
with external objects. 

" If the child is allowed quietly to pursue its 
observations in its own way, it will, in the 
course of a few weeks, or a month, learn to 
look steadily at large bright objects ; and then 
a new step may be taken, making, we believe, 
the third in our series. This is, learning to 
follow with the eye some bright object slowly 
moved before it. Let the mother, at some 
time, when the child seems disposed to look at 
a lamp, for example, after its eye is steadily 
fixed upon it, take up the lamp, and move it 
very slowly to one side. If it is moved very 
rapidly, the child will not be able to follow it. 
After two or three trials, the mother will find 
a motion so slow that the child will follow it 
from side to side, and, if the experiment is re- 



IN THE FAMILY. 81 

peated from day to day, rapid improvement will 
be observed. 

" It is evident that while engaged in this, 
every effort should be made to present no other 
objects of interest, which would distract the 
attention. It will be better that the mother be 
alone, or nearly so, the room still, and no other 
bright or alluring objects near. Efforts to 
assist children to acquire the full use of the eye 
may be carried to any extent, by employing 
smaller and smaller objects, and more and 
more rapid motion ; and after a time the sense 
of hearing may receive attention, upon the 
same principles, and in substantially the same 
manner." 

The phrenological reader of the above quo- 
tation, will not fail to recognize substantially the 
earliest training of the faculties of " Individ- 
uality," and " Eventuality." The former 
begins to be active as soon as the infant will 
" lie and gaze steadily at some object of vi- 
sion, — a lamp, a window, or a white curtain ;" 
and the appropriate training of this faculty at 
this interesting period, is very philosophically 
stated in the words, " when this is the case, let 



82 PHRENOLOGY 

the roowi be kept perfectly still ; do nothing to 
divert the attention" of the child : or in Phre- 
nological language, allow the faculty (" Indi- 
viduality,") to act on the object which has 
excited it, without interruption, either by the 
substitution of another object, (which would, 
by dividing its action, render it less vigorous ; 
and thus fail to strengthen the faculty in exer- 
cise,) or by exercising another faculty, as 
" Eventuality," till the activity of the first 
has wearied it, which may be known, either by 
a change of the object observed > or by the 
infant sinking into slumber. 

On the effect of crowding objects on the 
attention of the child, while he is making his 
first efforts to acquire knowledge, the author 
has the following judicious remark. " If, now* 
as is frequently the case, two or three individ- 
uals crowd around, filling its ears with excla- 
mations, standing in the way of the object it 
was desiring to see, in order to catch its eye 
themselves, or move the object itself, if indeed 
it is moveable, must not the child be bewilder- 
ed and confounded, and its progress prevented?" 

This sensible writer's mode of gradually 



IN THE FAMILY. 83 

exercising the faculty in question, by gradually 
increasing its task, commends itself to our un- 
derstanding, and accords with the phrenological 
philosophy ; viz : " employing smaller and 
smaller objects" on which for the faculty to be 
exercised : and the same good sense and sound 
philosophy, appear in his proposed course in 
training " Eventuality." The change of 
place, in an object removed, is an event which 
befals it. To exercise the faculty which takes 
cognizance of events, let its rapidity be so 
regulated, as not to transcend the tiny powers 
of the young experimenter's observation : — 
" let the lamp," says the writer above mention- 
ed, " be moved very slowly to one side. If it 
is moved rapidly, the child will not be able to 
follow it." But, as in the case of the other 
faculty, this has to be strengthened by exercise ; 
its task must be increased, that the power of 
the faculty may be augmented ; and according- 
ly, both smaller objects may be used by the 
mother in exercising it, and less glaring ones, 
and they may be changed from place to place 
more frequently, and more rapidly, 

Nor is the knowledge, acquired by the in- 



84 PHRENOLOGY 

fatit being, confined to the existence of 
individual objects around him, and to the 
changes which befall him. Even in early 
infancy, he acquires knowledge, (at least its 
simpler elements,) of their number, form, size, 
weight* &c, and accordingly the faculties 
which take cognizance of these, require to be 
suitably educated. Even when left to himself, 
the child may be observed to exercise these 
faculties ; and, so to speak, to make, for him- 
self, a course of experiments, on the objects 
around him. At the age of only a few months 
he may be seen to direct his hands towards 
objects before him, sometimes within his 
reach, and sometimes beyond it. If he can 
reach them, he makes the sense of feeling 
auxiliary to that of sight, and employs both in 
increasing his stock of knowledge of the physi- 
cal properties of objects. His faculty of 
distinguishing between the different forms of 
objects is exercised by his attention being turn- 
ed to objects round and square, globular and 
cubical, regular and irregular: — his faculty for 
distinguishing the size of objects is, in like 
manner, exercised by things large and small, 



IN THE FAMILY. 85 

long and short, broad and narrow, thick and 
thin. He next educates the faculty which 
takes cognizance of weight ; and seizing the 
object with both hands, endeavours to lift it, 
and probably carry it to his mouth, that he 
may examine it by the sense of Taste. The 
faculty which distinguishes colors, is exercised 
from the very first, by the almost endless 
variety in the hues of objects, even in a single 
apartment ; and still more, when the child is 
taken, from room to room, and from house to 
house ; and especially when carried into the 
open air, and the flower garden. 

It may sound strange, and may provoke a 
contemptuous smile, in some persons, to hear 
it asserted that " Infants meditate, and exercise 
contemplation :" but let an observing mother 
mark well the countenance of her infant, when 
introduced to new objects, and before becoming 
entirely familiar with them ; and she will not 
fail to acknowledge the truth of the statement ; 
for she will read it in his thoughtful and ex- 
pressive countenance. 

" While the infant is thus engaged, let the 
nurse allow it leisure to be quiet, and not by 
7 



86 PHRENOLOGY 

some incessant bunch of keys, some ill-timed 
trot on the knee, or some other injudicious 
interruption, disturb its mental operations." 
" There is great danger, in very early infancy, 
of doing too much to arouse and excite the 
intellectual powers of children." " We are 
naturally inclined to play too much with child- 
ren, and to excite their powers too strongly ;"* 
but this course not only tends to destroy a mild 
and serene disposition ; but retards the child's 
progress in knowledge, by interrupting its little 
lucubrations ; and by this same interruption, 
injures its disposition. We know that violent 
interruption, in a pleasant and successful train 
of thought, so disturbs the equanimity of even 
mature years, that, if often repeated, it requires 
all the moral and intellectual restraint we can 
command to prevent the display of asperity. 
We know, too, that when, by a train of investi- 
gations, we have almost reached the conclusion 
atw r hich we were aiming, if suddenly interrupt- 
ed, we find the chain irreparably broken, and 
the knowledge we were near obtaining, missed, 

* Mothers Friend, pp. 31, 32. 



IN THE FAMILY. 87 

perhaps, for ever ; and we feel the effect on 
our temper, temporarily if not permanently ; 
and this effect would be permanent, should the 
cause frequently operate. But on the poor 
infant it does operate frequently ; and he has no 
security, and no resource : and can we wonder 
that his temper is injured ? 

But it is time we brought this chapter to a 
close ; there are, indeed, others of the faculties 
which require education in infancy, and which 
we might particularize ; but as we shall need 
to recur to them, when we consider the educa- 
tion of Childhood, they may, not improperly, 
be brought to view in the following chapter. 



CHAPTER VI. 

EDUCATION DURING CHILDHOOD. 

We proceed, now, to a more advanced stage 
in the life of the being to be educated ; viz. that 
which we term Childhood : a period which 



88 PHRENOLOGY 

may be considered as extending from what we 
have called " Infancy," to ten or twelve years 
of age. The education of a child during this 
period, must, of course, vary in some respects, 
from that practised during its earlier life. It 
must vary in its details, also, in different child- 
ren ; with some, the period of Infancy con- 
tinues longer than with others ; and moreover 
some emerge more suddenly, and some more 
gradually, from Infancy to Childhood; so that 
certain modifications are necessary, in the 
course of Domestic Education to which they 
should be subjected. But the principles upon 
which their education should be conducted, are, 
in all cases, the same ; — in all the periods of 
the life of the child, and in all the varieties of 
character and disposition, which the children 
of the entire species may present to us. And 
it is in this particular that Phrenology is pre- 
eminently valuable, as a basis of education ; 
viz : that as it affords a knowledge of human 
nature, principles of education deduced from it, 
are such as are universally applicable. In the 
prosecution of any undertaking of magnitude 
and importance, a constant advertence to certain 



IN THE FAMILY. 89 

great principles, elementary and fundamental 
in the case in hand, is absolutely indispensable ; 
and though, when we become familiar with the 
details of the process, such a reference to first 
principles will become so easy and constant, 
that we shall be likely to think it instinctive ; 
yet, in the incipiency of the undertaking, it is 
necessary to recur to them again and again ; 
and indeed to take no step without reference to 
chart and compass. We must be excused 
therefore, if we refer, in this place, to the 
elementary principles of phrenology laid down 
at the close of our third chapter, and request 
parents who may favor this work with their 
notice, to give them a perusal in this place ; 
and not to be satisfied until they are entirely 
familiar with them. 

At the period of Childhood the Intellect of 
the little ones begins to develope itself. Its 
earliest dawnings, indeed, as we have already 
observed, belong to a still earlier period in 
their existence. Those dawnings, however, 
are so obscure, and are possessed by the young 
of our own species, so nearly in common with 

those of the lower animals, that we may be 

7* 



90 PHRENOLOGY 

pardoned for the want of exactness of expres- 
sion, if we say that Intellect only begins to 
open in Childhood. With the developement 
of new faculties, and with the further develope- 
ment of faculties already discovered, it must 
be obvious that new duties devolve on the 
heaven-appointed instructors of the child — on 
parents, and especially mothers. 

Every faculty rejoices in exercise ; and, in 
erder to the happiness of the possessor, it is 
requisite that every faculty should be exercised. 
Our beneficent Creator knew this ; and there- 
fore has furnished to each faculty, animal, in- 
tellectual, and moral, its appropriate object; 
the search after and possession of which shall 
afford it the requisite exercise. The intellect- 
ual faculties of a child require and rejoice in 
exercise ; for these faculties the Creator has 
provided their appropriate objects ; these ob- 
jects, the faculties desire and demand ; and the 
claim is loud and forcible, in proportion to the 
degree in which the organs of the faculties are 
developed. We need not expect that, such 
being the purposes, and such the provisions of 
our Maker, his plans cnn be frustrated ; — we 



IN THE FAMILY. 91 

say, then, that the intellectual faculties must, 
and will have exercise, in one way or another. 
And here the appropriate sphere of parental 
solicitude, is selection, and supervision. Care 
is to be taken that the exercise of the faculties 
be not continued too long, at one time ; so as to 
produce weariness : and also, that the faculties 
themselves be not stimulated to over exertion, 
even on right objects, and in a right direction. 
There is danger of error here : and especially 
where parents are intelligent, and children are 
precocious. Intelligent parents are naturally 
delighted with the appearances of intelligence 
in their children ; they cherish such appear- 
ances, and with the greater pleasure, in propor- 
tion as they consider them unusual in degree or 
extraordinary in nature. They accordingly 
exercise the intellects of their children ; call 
them out to greater and greater exertions ; and 
suppose that, so long as the child is as well 
pleased as themselves, with its efforts, so far 
from injury being done, it is of real and perma- 
nent advantage to him to call them forth. But 
unusual pleasure, on the part of the child, in 
intellectual efforts beyond his years, is not in- 



92 PHRENOLOGY 

dicative of the duty of the parent to tax the 
powers which the child exhibits. It more 
correctly indicates that those faculties are pos- 
sessed in sufficient degree to insure, at least as 
much exercise as is healthful, even without the 
parents care ; and that it may, not improbably, 
be the duty of the parent to suppress their 
activity, rather than to stimulate them. Stimu- 
lus is required in the case of sluggish, and not 
of unusually active faculties. But in the 
generality of children the lower intellectual 
faculties (the knowing, or observing faculties) 
are generally sufficiently active, at least if they 
meet with proper treatment from the beginning. 
Children are naturally greedy after knowledge ; 
and we have no hesitation in saying, that every 
child of average intellectual endowment, 
whose infant training has been such as was 
described in the foregoing chapter, will exhibit 
a satisfactory and healthful appetite for know- 
ledge. Knowledge is the appropriate object 
of intellect: and children whose intellect is 
healthfully active will obtain it, of some kind, 
useful or injurious. Now, as the appetite is 
natural, it cannot be, and ought not to be, 



IN THE FAMILY. 93 

annihilated. But as it is blind and inex- 
perienced, — desiring simply to know, it re- 
quires to be guided in a right direction, and 
furnished with a wholesome nutriment. To 
its parents the little creature naturally looks, 
for the requisite guidance, and the needed 
supply ; and it is justified in the expectation it 
cherishes. 

How shall this expectation, on the part of 
our children, be met ? We mean not, by this 
question, what shall we do to enable us to meet 
it ? But, in what manner are we required to 
attempt furnishing the supply ? The answer 
is, it must be so met as to accord with the 
impulses of nature ; otherwise, injury instead 
of benefit, will be the result. Now, nature, in 
the child, calls for a knowledge of things, and 
not of words : and those parents,' — that mother 
—is but little ' qualified for the duties of a 
domestic instructor to her children, who is 
unprepared to impart the knowledge of things. 
We repeat it, that children will learn things ; 
but it is the province of the mother to see that 
they be proper things : the intellectual faculties 
of the child should be furnished with a know- 



94 PHRENOLOGY 

ledge of these, in proper proportion ; that, 
being employed in acquiring this knowledge, 
they may not go in quest of that which will be 
detrimental to its welfare. 

How immensely important then, is it, that- 
she who sustains the maternal relation (and not 
less so, that the father of her children) should 
possess a large fund of information, on all 
those subjects which will be likely to awaken 
the curiosity, and excite the inquiries of the 
child ! Indeed, as children sometimes make 
inquiries on subjects which we could not have 
expected would interest them, so that there is 
scarcely any matter but may lead to their 
interrogatories, a mother should be a very 
extensively intelligent woman. The questions 
of a child are, almost all, calls for knowledge ; 
and how almost numberless are those cravings 
for knowledge which an intelligent child of 
four or five years of age will present to its 
mother, in the course of a single day ! Many 
of these relate to matters on which the little 
creature has a right to be informed ; and on 
which a mother ought to be qualified to impart 
information. Some, it is true, will be inquiries 



IN THE FAMILY. 95 

of another character ; hut the proper mode, in 
such a case, is,- to give such information as the 
child ought to possess, and such as he is able 
to understand ; and he will, generally, be found 
to be satisfied without that, of which it is best 
that he should remain in ignorance. But he 
will never be satisfied with evasions ; and 
though rebukes for inquisitiveness, may silence 
him, and put a stop to his inquiries, rest 
assured he has discernment sufficient to discover 
that you are as ignorant as he is, on the subject 
of his questions ; and the consequence will 
soon be, that he will cease to regard you with 
that respect, which is due, indeed, to the 
relation you sustain ; but which it is only 
intelligence on your part, that can command. 
He construes your evasions as modifications, 
only, of prevarication ; and his confidence in 
your veracity is shaken ; and at the same time 
his dread of falsehood is lessened. The know- 
ledge his intellect required, you have not im- 
parted ; and if he cannot obtain that, he will 
possess himself of other knowledge, and such 
as will, probably, injure him to acquire. Re- 
peat this a few times, and your child will no 



96 PHRENOLOGY 

longer resort to you for instruction, but will 
seek it elsewhere ; feeling that you only mock 
his cravings for it. We appeal to experience 
and observation in proof of the truth of these 
remarks. 

What, in point of fact, is the effect of the 
endless inquiries of their children, on the minds 
of many parents ? Is it not to mortify them, 
because they cannot give them the information 
their children seek ? — To sour their tempers, 
and to lead them to chide the constant inquisi- 
tiveness of their little ones ? To drive those 
little ones to seek the gratification of the 
innate, and now, vigorously active desire to 
know, in the acquisition of improper and in- 
jurious knowledge ; and finally, to degrade 
themselves, in the eyes of their children, as 
persons but little better -informed than them- 
selves ; persons who constantly disappoint 
those longings after knowledge, which, antece- 
dently to experience, they instinctively suppose 
their parents can easily satisfy. 'And there is 
no way to prevent these results, but by parents 
resolutely determining to acquaint themselves 
with things. When, on any subject, of which 



IX THE FAMILY. 97 

they possess not the requisite information, 
inquiries are made, they should postpone for a 
time, as short a one as possible, the reply, and 
in the interval should prepare themselves with 
the knowledge they require. If they are not 
previously prepared with information, on many 
subjects, their children will keep them con- 
stantly employed, by their questions. It is 
astonishing how long a catalogue of questions 
an intelligent child will put to his mother, on 
either of the following, and a thousand other 
subjects : Tea, Sugar, Salt, Starch, Iron, 
Paper, &c, and equally astonishing, how 
large a measure of positive knowledge, on 
Natural History, Manufactures, Geography, 
Commerce, Chemistry, &c, a mother must 
possess, and how much at hand her knowledge 
must be, in order to an immediate, full, and 
proper reply to them. 

It is often an occasion of complaint by affec- 
tionate mothers, that the Infant School alienates 
the affections of children from their homes, and 
the society of their parents : and this complaint 
is found to be more frequent, in proportion as 
the Infant School is ably and efficiently con- 
8 



98 PHRENOLOGY 

ducted. But there is a good, and a sufficient 
reason for this : In the Infant School, thus 
instructed, the very kind of knowledge is com- 
municated, which satisfies the natural craving 
of the young mind ; — knowledge of things, 
and their properties: whereas, at home, all 
their questions relative to such matters, are 
either impatiently checked, or in vain solicit 
replies. That we may be distinctly understood 
when we speak of the knowledge of things 
being imparted, in- well conducted Infant 
Schools, we present the following extracts from 
a Report of the Edinburgh Infant School 
Society, presented May 18, 1832. 

" The master one day intimated that he 
wanted a number of articles, of a kind which 
he enumerated, to illustrate the lessons. He 
was next day inundated with all sorts of odds 
and ends ; every child bringing him something ; 
— leather, feathers, cloths, silks, stones, wood, 
glass, <fcc. &c." In the appendix of the same 
Report, is found the following list of the 
" kinds of articles which will be thankfully 
received, — for the Museum of the School." 



IN THE FAMILY. 99 

" 1. Models of ships, boats, simple machines, 
tools, curiosities, &c. 

" 2. Specimens of manufactures, common 
and curious. 

" 3. Specimens of metals, wood, nuts, and 
such like portable botanic articles ; and of 
mineral stones. 

" 4. Foreign articles, especially from rude 
tribes. 

" 5. Pictures of costumes of various races of 
men ; and historical, and interesting pictures 
of all kinds. 

" 6. Stuffed birds and animals, and pictures 
of them. 

" 7. Miscellaneous articles of all kinds which 
will surprise, amuse, or instruct children from 
two to six years of age ; such as puzzles, 
dissected pictures and maps, changing figures, 
curious toys, &c. &c. &c." 

These and numerous other material and 
tangible objects, are, in a well conducted Infant 
School, made the basis of the lessons imparted, 
either instead of the arbitrary signs of the 
elements of speech, in books ; or, in the cases 
of the older children, in connection with the 



100 PHRENOLOGY 

lessons read. In either case, the child acquires 
positive, and valuable, and interesting know- 
ledge ; and such knowledge as its nature calls 
for: (knowledge of things,') and there you 
will rarely or never see a wandering eye, the 
evidence of a listless mind. There will cer- 
tainly be difficulty in furnishing every child's 
home with a " museum," of the extentof those 
which enrich a properly endowed Infant 
school ; but a moment's reflection will con- 
vince any one, that, in fact, there are multitudes 
of common articles, in the home of every child, 
which will furnish materials for an instructive 
lecture or lesson, though they may not be the 
very articles which such a museum will contain. 
The principal requisite is, that the mother, in 
every family, should be, in some happy degree, 
qualified to teach the knowledge of things, to 
her children ; and that she should, if not already 
qualified for this interesting portion of her 
duties, set about the preparation of herself. 

It is in vain to propose to substitute any 
thing else, for this knowledge, in the parent : — 
nothing can possibly stand in its place. The 
parents of a child may have wealth ; and may 



IN THE FAMILY. 101 

be liberal, and even profuse, in the use of it, 
for the benefit of their children ; they may most 
willingly, and joyfully, furnish them books, 
which contain the information they crave. But 
this will not answer the purpose, for various 
reasons which might be assigned : the two 
following, however, may suffice, in this place : 
First, The desire of knowledge commences, 
before the child can possibly understand that 
books are the depositories of knowledge : before 
he can read : and it is painful to his desire to 
know, even to have its gratification deferred: 
and much more so, to have it almost (to the 
child) hopelessly deferred ; i. e. till he can read ; 
and unaided, prosecute his own inquiries. And 
if he be so eager to know, as to wish, at once, 
to learn to read, the tediousness of the proce-ss 
disappoints and wearies him ; and the more so, 
because the books he studies, for years after 
he feels the craving for knowledge, do not at 
all satisfy his desires. For instance, he wishes 
to know what paper is made of; — perhaps he 
is not told ; or possibly he is informed, that it is 
made of cotton or linen rags. He then asks, how 
it is, that dirty rags become clean paper ; — how 
8* 



102 PHRENOLOGY 

it can be, that what looks and feels so different 
from each other, as rags and paper, can be made 
one of the other ? Here he is told that when 
he learns to read, he will know all about it ; 
accordingly he is sent to school, that he may- 
learn. His great trial there is, to do violence 
to his nature, i. e. whereas the impulses of his 
nature prompt him to action, he is made to sit 
still on a bench for hours ; and his whole in- 
tercourse with his teacher is on the subject of 
his lessons. Weeks, and perhaps months, pass 
away, and the little victim of education has 
learnt — what ? How paper is made ? What 
gives it an appearance and texture so different 
from rags ? Nothing of all this : but he has 
learned "great A," and all the rest of the 
regiment of hieroglyphics ; and that a, b, spells 
ab, and a few more such-like discoveries. This 
is his commencement of knowledge ; but the 
knowledge of what ? Not things, but words ; 
and the true reason why there are so many 
book-learned blockheads, is, that they have 
become familiar with words or signs, while 
the things signified have been overlooked. 
Now, Secondly, The natural appetite, in a 



IN THE FAMILY. 103 

child's intellect, is for the knowledge of things 
signified, and not for signs. To a child, a 
book is conceived of simply as a collection of 
words, which mean or teach nothing, i. e. no 
thing: — all the books with which he has 
become acquainted, have been such, and his 
experience leads him to regard all books as the 
terrible storehouses of tasks. It may be ob- 
jected, in opposition to these statements and 
reasonings, that some of the most distinguished 
men of past time, have been such as were urged 
to the efforts which gave them eminence, by 
incessant exhortations "to read." This was 
the case with Sir William Jones ; whose 
mother would constantly, and w r atchfully, 
stimulate his appetite for knowledge, by reply- 
ing to his questions, on topics of casual con- 
versation, "Read, and you will knowP But 
who, that shall peruse the history of his child- 
hood, will imagine that this watchword of his 
mother, was a substitute for the information of 
which her son was so intensely anxious ? His 
mother was a woman of strong understanding, 
extensive information, and uncommon attain- 
ments. This sentence was the accompaniment 



104 PHRENOLOGY 

of information, and the impulse to attempt the 
acquisition of more ; and not the substitute for 
knowledge, and the veil for ignorance. Books 
were loved by the youthful, and almost infantile 
William Jones, because his- excellent mother 
had acquired, and was accustomed to impart to 
him the knowledge he desired ; and to speak 
o{tJds, as only a sample of what he should 
amass for himself, in abundance, when he should 
have learned to read with facility. She was 
able, also, to direct his reading: to point him 
to authors whose writings would satisfy and 
reward his labors ; and not left to plod over 
the mere class books of the school, or if he read 
others, select them at random. It is such a 
course, substantially, that we would urge other 
parents to pursue with their children. This 
will afford to them a practical proof that words, 
in their books, are the vehicles of knowledge; 
and the eager craving for knowledge, would 
soon render unheard of the complaint, now 
so common, that the child " does not love his 
book." 

But we have said sufficient in this place, 
respecting the culture of the opening intellectual 



IN THE FAMILY. 105 

faculties ; the feelings, animal and moral, of 
the child, present the especial field of parental 
culture ; to this, therefore, let us now direct 
our attention. 

ANGER. 

The feeling of Anger we have already- 
defined to be, a painful affection of the two 
phrenological faculties, Destructiveness, and 
Combativeness. It does not first come into ac- 
tivity during what we have termed " Child- 
hood ;" but earlier : yet, as we but too plainly 
and painfully see, its activity is by no means 
confined to the tender age in which it makes its 
earliest manifestations : viz : " Infancy." 
This feeling, in the young subject of education 
requires the most careful watching, and the 
wisest and most judicious treatment. Disci- 
jjline is absolutely indispensable to it ; but it can 
never be advantageously brought under disci- 
pline; without a knowledge of its nature, such 
as only phrenology imparts. This feeling, 
resulting from the simultaneous activity of two 
of the animal propensities, is, of course, a 



106 PHRENOLOGY 

feeling, animal, in its nature : and a knowledge 
of this fact must guide us, in the discipline to 
which we subject it. Now it is a principle, to 
which we have already referred, that all animal 
feelings are excited by opposition ; of course, 
therefore this is thus excited : and it must be 
not only useless, but positively injurious, to 
resort to blank opposition, in the discipline of 
the feeling in question. 

The Apostle Paul well understood the nature 
of this feeling, and the effect of direct coercion 
upon it, when he drops a hint, on the subject 
of its education in the family, in the following 
precept to parents : " Fathers provoke not your 
children to anger, lest they be discouraged ;" 
and in the same connexion to " forbear threat- 
ening." But we often see this direction of 
inspired truth disregarded ; and the angry child 
is, ignorantly or thoughtlessly, and always to 
its injury, coerced into submission. It is some- 
times said of such a child, by a well meaning, 
but injudicious and misguided parent, " I -will, 
and must, break that spirit." Now there may 
be cases in which this spirit may be broken ; 
but never without real injury to the moral 



IN THE FAMILY. 107 

nature of the child ; and thus it costs more 
than it is worth : but this result (i. e. the break- 
ing of the spirit) does by no means always 
follow. Let that parent know that, where there 
is a remarkably strong natural tendency to 
anger, — a large developementof Combativeness 
and Destrnctiveness ; especially, if combined 
with obstinacy, — a large developement of Firm- 
ness, — it is as easy to break the pillars of 
heaven, as to " break that spirit." The attempt 
defeats itself; — it is like the endeavour to ex- 
tinguish the flame of burning wood, by exposing 
it to the action of a current of air; or the 
effort to smother the glowing coal, by burying 
it in gunpowder. It is, indeed, the most phi- 
losophical course which could be pursued, if 
the purpose of the experimenter were, the in- 
crease, to the greatest practicable extent, of the 
evil which he really wishes to remove. 

For, what are the measures taken to secure 
the contemplated object? The very language 
employed, is a sufficient answer to this inquiry: 
they are forceful measures. But these measures 
can never be taken, without calling into exercise, 
in ourselves, the very feeling which we are 



108 PHRENOLOGY 

desirous of subduing in the child ; and the 
very highest authority has pronounced on the 
inappropriateness of these means to produce 
this effect : "As coals to burning coals, and 
wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle 
strife :" — (Prov : 26, 21.) his course not only 
does not tend to the accomplishment of his 
object ; but has a directly opposite tendency. 
Phrenology acquaints us with the philosophy 
of this result ; furnishing a satisfactory com- 
ment on this passage of holy writ : — The angry 
child possesses other faculties than those in 
activity during his paroxysms of passion ; — 
faculties which are ready to act, even when not 
active ; and they only wait for their appropriate 
object to excite them to activity. Among these 
faculties is that of Imitation, and its appropriate 
object, — the means of its excitement,- — is ex- 
ample. Let, now, the spirit of the angry child 
be attempted to be broken by force, and we 
present an example to that child, on which his 
Imitation will promptly seize ; — an example of 
that very passion which, in him, we condemn ; 
and one on which he will seize with the greater 
avidity, from the fact, that he is, by nature, (i. 



IN THE FAMILY. 109 

e. by his organization) strongly inclined to 
anger. Thus the evil is increased, by the 
very means designed to effect its cure : and in- 
creased, because the means designed to secure 
this end, were not adapted to it. The measures 
adopted were pursued in ignorance of the 
nature of the being to be educated, and of the 
proper mode of addressing the principles con- 
cerned : — " coals" are added " to burning coals, 
and wood to fire," with the design, we admit, 
but, certainly, not with the tendency, to extin- 
guish it. 

It may appear, however, that " how specious 
soever our reasonings may be, they are not 
solid ; for that, in fact, the course of treatment 
reasoned against, does often produce submis- 
sion." We will not say that it never does ; 
but we do say that, when it produces this result, 
the organization of the individual is not such 
as that, in the case supposed : — viz : " where 
there is a remarkably strong natural tendency 
to anger, — combined with obstinacy" In 
some cases, indeed, where this organization 
exists, there may be induced, by severe mea- 
sures, the appearance of submission : but an 
9 



1 1 PHRENOLOGY 

observer, who understands the philosophy of 
the transaction, will assuredly give another 
version of it. He will say, that the child is 
debased ; but is not subdued: — that his Firm- 
ness was, probably, not sufficient to enable him, 
unflinchingly, to endure the pain which the 
Destructiveness and Combativeness and Firm- 
ness of his disciplinarians inflicted on him, and 
that he, therefore, called Secretiveness to his 
aid,— affected a submission to which his heart 
was a stranger, and from which it revolted ; — 
and thus began to act the deceiver. Thus is 
the foundation laid, for a sly and cunning char- 
acter ; in the well-intended, but misguided 
attempt to overbear an angry one : and let the 
Conscientiousness of any Christian Parent 
decide, whether a greater evil is not induced, 
in the endeavour to correct a smaller one. 

It will now be asked " What course would 
a knowledge of Phrenology suggest, as proper 
to be adopted in the treatment of such a child I 
The answer is plain, by adverting to two of 
our fundamental principles : viz : " That every 
faculty is strengthened by activity, and enfeebled 
by inaction ;" and " That all the animal feel- 



IN THE FAMILY. Ill 

ings are excited by opposition." These are 
in beautiful harmony with the decision of the 
wise man, employing the same figure, in refer- 
ence to the same subject, as in the former quo- 
tation ; — " Where no wood is, there the fire 
goeth out :"• (Prov : 26, 20.) By the aid of 
these lights, the answer of the Phrenologist, to 
the above inquiry would be, That the mode of 
treatment should be, uniformly, mild and firm. 
This is the least likely to excite the feeling to 
be cured ; and the most likely to allay it. It 
presents another, and a nobler, object for the 
activity of Imitation, than a rational being 
transported by passion ; — viz : such a being, 
exhibiting the predominance of Intellect and 
the Moral Sentiments, controlling and subduing 
the risings of Animal Feeling, even though that 
feeling is lacerated by provocation. The child 
feels that you have the superiority ; that you 
are his subduer : and to principles which he 
feels to be superior to those by which he is 
actuated, he yields a real, a cordial, and not a 
feigned, submission. 

We are far, very far, from advocating a 
system of indulgence in the training of an 



112 PHRENOLOGY 

angry child. Its feelings of imitation must not 
be ministered unto ; this were to augment the 
evil, in another way than by coercion, but yet, 
as really to augment it ; for it is a principle 
with phrenologists, that indulgence increases 
the demand for indulgence, in the Animal 
Feelings ; as well as that opposition, or violence 
excites them to activity. To manage, properly, 
a child in whom the tendency to anger and irri- 
tation is strong, is, in practice, an exceedingly 
difficult task ; though it is by no means difficult 
to point out the proper course. It requires 
perfect self-control ; and this, under repeated, 
and severe provocations ; and the parent who 
shall attain to it, will present a distinguished 
instance of the triumph of that charity which 
"suffereth long, and yet is kind."'* Some 
Secretiveness also must be called into exercise, 
by the parent ; — he must seem not to perceive 
all which passes before him. In one word, the 
whole manner and spirit required, in a parent 
to whose hands such a child is committed for 
training, is exactly expressed, in one of our 
common proverbial expressions : — He should 
be as " calm as a clock." 



IN THE FAMILY. 113 



INSTINCT TO OPPOSE. 

The next faculty we shall mention, is that 
which, in Phrenological language, is termed 
" Combativeness :" a term, perhaps, not en- 
tirely unobjectionable, and yet sufficiently 
expressive, when the function of its organ is 
defined, to answer all ordinary purposes. The 
term, however, is not wholly unexceptionable, 
inasmuch as, to ears not familiar with the 
phraseology of our science, it appears to point 
out a specific act, as its appropriate function, 
rather than a general tendency. It is, indeed, 
the feeling which leads as its name imports, to 
fighting : but fighting is only one of the kinds 
of contention or opposition ; — one of the 
spheres for the activity of courage and resist- 
ance, of which there are very many ; and all 
of them, so far as they contain contest, opposi- 
tion, resistance, &c, are the appropriate sphere 
of the activity of this feeling. 'Some of the 
Edinburgh Phrenologists have proposed an 
emendation of the nomenclature, in this parti- 
cular ; and have suggested the term " Oppo- 
9# 



114 PHRENOLOGY 

siveness" instead of " Combativeness." To 
the writer this term appears preferable ; as 
embracing all that is included in the term 
Combativeness ; and yet extending beyond that, 
through the whole range of encountering and 
overcoming obstacles and opposition. 

The feeling under consideration is manifestly 
animal, in its nature : man possesses it in 
common with the lower animals ; and in some 
of them it is seen in its most energetic and 
unlovely forms. In any creature, and therefore 
in the human species, the precise aspect which 
it will present, depends on the condition, on 
the whole, of the individual in whom it appears. 
Now the condition of children, on the whole, 
is in fact, one in which there is a predominance 
of the animal nature, or of the activity of the 
Propensities: hence, the prevailing tendency 
of the feeling in question will be, to produce 
fighting, quarrelling, contention, and strife : for 
the animal nature enlists Opposiveness in its 
service. When this feeling is strong, by 
natural endowment, its education becomes an 
exceedingly difficult task ; and one which 
severely tests both the wisdom and the for- 



IN THE FAMILY. 115 

bearance of those, to whom the education of 
the child is committed. Such children exhibit 
their Opposiveness on all occasions. " They 
refuse to do any thing they are required to do, 
and always appear to delight in contradiction :" 
— " They will evince their inveterate (innate) 
tendency that way, by refusing to have what 
they at first cried for." " If food be placed 
before such a child, he pushes it from him, or 
throws it down : take it away, and he cries for 
it : give it to him again, and he renews the 
first proceedings." " The love of contradiction 
will make such a child refuse a favorite dress, 
because the nurse is putting it on without asking 
whether he would have on this, or any other." 
(Levison's Mental Culture, p. 116.) 

Specific directions for the treatment of a child 
thus constituted, can scarcely be given. We 
cannot perhaps do better in this place, than 
recur to those principles frequently adverted 
to already, and which are our Pole-Star in a 
multitude of cases, where but for them we 
should be in perplexity. These should be 
borne constantly in mind, and applied as vary- 
ing circumstances, in the particular case may 



116 PHRENOLOGY 

require. Those principles teach us that the 
treatment of such a child must be mild, and yet 
firm. Coercion will only excite the feeling, 
and should rarely, if ever, be resorted to : — 
that is the very element en which it lives and 
thrives. " It would be the most egregious 
folly," says Mr. Levison, " to strike, or 
threaten them ; for, in such cases, the little 
creatures are sure to lift their hand, and with 
extraordinary daring, strike again. It is a diffi- 
cult task to deal properly with such tempers, 
or to legislate for the little tyrant of the nur- 
sery:" "should force be employed, 'then 
comes the tug of war ;" — pulling, pushing, 
crying, kicking." " It would be well to avoid 
exciting the combative principle at any time ; . 
but how can we avoid it ?" " To encourage 
insubordination would be injudicious ; and yet, 
even with that risk, it is best to keep such 
tempers unexcited when very young. If a 
child of such disposition have attained the third 
or fourth year, and you chide it mildly, 
appealing to its attachment and moral feeling, 
(Adhesiveness and Conscientiousness) there is 
a probability of restraining animal excesses ; 



IX THE FAMILY. 117 

but if you treat it harshly, raising your voice 
in tones of anger, the child will elevate his, and 
bid you defiance, by telling you ' he is not 
naughty, — you are naughty.'' " 

That parents may not be left without some 
hints as to the management and training of this 
feeling, let us suppose a case or two of its 
strong activity, and suggest what appears an 
advisable course in treating it. The reader will 
bear in mind that it has been laid down as a first 
principle, that " the faculties are capable of 
simultaneous, or combined activity :" i. e. that 
sometimes more than one faculty acts at one 
time. Now let us suppose that together with 
large Combativeness, a child possesses large 
Self-Esteem. The latter faculty accounts the 
being chief, as a sort of summv.m bonum, or 
highest good. It also prompts its possessor to 
assume the place of chief, as his unquestionable 
right : he must and u of right ought to be" 
first. For this distinction, then, Combative- 
ness or Opposiveness inclines him to contend; 
and his little lordship claims supremacy in 
the nursery. If there be another child in 
the family, similarly constituted, he is, of course, 



1J8 PHRENOLOGY 

the subject of the same feelings ; and " then 
comes the tug of war :" the question of chief- 
tainship must be settled, by the laws of the 
strongest. Now for the mode of treatment 
with such a child. We have said that the 
feelings of our animal nature are blind in them- 
selves : the first step to be taken is, to prevent 
their acting blindly : and this is, of course, 
done by enlightening them. They are enlight- 
ened through the Intellect; Intellect therefore 
must be addressed ; — knowledge must be im- 
parted ; the child must be instructed. Let 
him then be taught that he and his fellows are 
equally creatures of God ; and that God regards 
them and him with equal love, and commands 
each of them to love others as themselves. 
He should then be further enlightened, and 
should be shewn, that self-preference trans- 
gresses this command ; and really degrades him 
who indulges it, in the estimation of God ; for 
that God loves " the humble and lowly," — the 
meek and gentle ; and not the proud and as- 
suming, the angry and contentious : — that God's 
estimate of worth, or of the right to be chief. 



IN THE FAMILY. 119 

is the proper one ; and that He has said " honor 
shall uphold the hamhle person ;" — that to such 
He will give grace, while " the proud he knows 
afar off :" and accounts " a meek and quiet, 
spirit," — not an irritable and contentious one, 
" of great price." Such a course is obviously 
right ; because it, at once, enlightens the In- 
tellect, and appeals to the Moral Sentiments. 
Conscientiousness, Benevolence and Rever- 
ence, are all appealed to, and stimulated by 
their appropriate aliment, religious truth ; and 
to these, as the highest principles of our nature, 
God has given the dominion in the soul. These 
lessons, with a child of average intellectual 
endowment, if they were inculcated at proper 
times, and in a suitable manner, could scarcely 
fail of being understood, and exerting a benefi- 
cial influence. It cannot be necessary to say, 
that lessons addressed to the intellect and moral 
feeling, must not be imparted while the teacher 
is the subject of irritation and resentment. 
They will be utterly powerless, in such cases ; 
and though the little pupil may be unacquainted 
with the phraseology of the proverb, he will 



1 20 PHRENOLOGY 

not fail to make application of its spirit, "Phy- 
sician, heal thyself." 

But suppose that to the former combination 
of faculties, there be added, in the child, large 
Acquisitiveness. In this case, even though 
there should not be a deficiency of Conscien- 
tiousness, it would not be surprising if he should 
appropriate to himself the toys, fruit, &c, of 
his little companions. Such cases of spoliation 
are the result not of deficient Conscientiousness; 
but of a large and active Self-Esteem, origina- 
ting, as it does uniformly, the feeling of per- 
sonal superiority in its subject ; and connected 
with this feeling, a sense of priority of claim 
among his compeers. In this case, most parents, 
whose own sense of Justice (Conscientious- 
ness) was strong, woul'd make an equitable 
distribution of the articles contended for ; and 
do summary justice, by some corporeal infliction 
on the aggressor ; leaving it to a future time, 
when the child's sense of right and justice should 
be more matured, to justify the act of the parent 
in all its parts. 

But this course would not be wise, for several 
reasons : First, The blind activity of the child's 



IN THE FAMILY. 121 

Combativeness, Self-Esteem, and Acquisitive- 
ness is not at all enlightened by these measures ; 
and consequently, the decision, of the parent, 
though just in reality, will not be seen to be so, 
by the child : it will not, by the subject of this 
discipline, be distinguished from the mere 
exercise of power and authority : and he is not 
at all the more prepared, another time, to do 
right. On the contrary, Secondly : Combat- 
iveness is excited to activity ; and its activity 
is increased by the excitement of Imitation, 
prompting him to copy the active Combative- 
ness of his parent. Thirdly ; The cultivation 
of Conscientiousness is not promoted by this 
act of Nursery Discipline ; but the parent 
presumes that in the after life of her child, it 
will, by some means, be so far cultivated, as to 
lead him to perceive the justice of the disci- 
pline administered. Fourthly, Reverence or 
Veneration towards the parent is not cultivated ; 
for, in such discipline, she makes no exhibition 
of superior wisdom, or goodness, or justice : 
and these are the appropriate objects of the 
activity of this Sentiment. Such conduct may 
excite Cautiousness, and awaken Fear; but 
10 



122 PHRENOLOGY 

parents who indulge it cannot command respect, 
and need not expect reverential deference from 
their children. 

If it be asked, What would be the proper 
mode of procedure in training a child so or- 
ganized ? The reply is as follows : First, A 
calm investigation should be made, of the right 
of the little belligerents, to the articles in dispute. 
This may involve the sacrifice of some time, 
and the exercise of some considerable patience ; 
time and patience in a degree which some 
parents may find it difficult to command. 
They mast, nevertheless, be afforded ; or valua- 
ble opportunities for the cultivation of the 
Moral nature of the children will be irre- 
coverably lost ; and a dangerous ascendan- 
cy will be acquired by their merely Animal 
nature. Those who cannot find time, nor 
exercise patience sufficient for the cultivation 
of the noblest elements in the nature of their 
children, have grossly misconceived the re- 
sponsibilities of the parental relation ; such 
persons ought never to put themselves in the 
way of sustaining that relation ; no, never. 
Secondly, When right, in the case in dispute, 



IN THE FAMILY. 123 

is fully ascertained, an appeal should be made 
to the Intellect of the children ; i. e. the parent 
should be at pains to make them understand 
what is right in the case ; and also, why it is 
right. Thirdly, Conscientiousness should be 
addressed, and by means of Intellect, should 
be shown the fitness and propriety of doing 
right in general ; and hence of doing right in 
particular cases, and especially in this particu- 
lar case : the fitness of his doing right, and of 
his parent's doing right ; and of his parent's 
requiring him to do right. The morality of 
the course proposed, should be shown, by 
adverting to the authority of God ; and by 
showing that He commands parents to require 
their children to do right : and therefore that 
you are obeying God, in requiring this of him : 
and that if he should disobey, it would displease 
God, as well as offend you. Fourthly, Right, 
should then be impartially administered ; but 
it should be done most calmly, and most kindly. 
This last step, the administration of strict justice, 
would indeed pain Acquisitiveness and Self- 
Esteem ; but the excess and the perversion of 
their activity will be checked, by Conscientious- 



124 PHRENOLOGY 

ness ; which is now doubly potent, being en- 
lightened by Intellect, and, thus enlightened, 
being roused to its highest activity, by a refer- 
ence to the Supremely Just, and his authority. 
This excitement of Conscientiousness, more- 
over, and its illumination, has awakened Vene- 
ration, and Benevolence ; so that all these moral 
Sentiments concur in retaining control over 
the baser nature : a control the more easily 
exercised, because, since Intellect is enlighten- 
ed, the violence of the activity of that nature 
is much allayed. 

In training a child with large Combativeness, 
it is perhaps wise to inform him that he pos- 
sesses it ; and to let him know that you 
perfectly understand its operations. You will 
do well, also, to admit the value and importance 
of this element in his character, provided it be 
properly directed and controlled. Yet show 
him that it is merely an animal feeling ; and as 
such, is to be repressed and guided ; and not 
cherished and excited ; because in him it is 
even stronger than is desirable. Show him that 
he has no more reason to value himself on 
account of possessing it than a bull-dog has, in 



IN THE FAMILY. 125 

whom it exists in special power. Inform him 
of the proper sphere of its activity ; namely, in 
opposing wrong, in resisting temptations, in 
sustaining trials, and in vanquishing difficulties, 
in the path of duty. 

By the adoption of this course you will, 
according to a principle before laid down, 
direct and control the activity of a powerful 
faculty, without attempting the impossibility of 
annihilating it : for remember, " all the facul- 
ties are innate ; and cannot be either created, 
or annihilated." It will facilitate your task 
too, if in the confidence of parental affection, ■ 
you express a tender sympathy with your 
child, under this feeling : choosing, of course, 
those times for the expression of this sympathy, 
when the feeling you would weaken is inactive. 
Let him understand that you can distinguish 
between the spontaneous activity of a strong 
natural feeling, and the indulgence of that feel- 
ing ; and assure him that he possesses your 
compassion, and shall receive your prayers for 
his victory, in his daily conflicts with it. Thus 
will you enlist Adhesiveness on your side ; and 
1Q* 



126 PHRENOLOGY 

better still — Reverence, for your wisdom, and 
discernment, and piety. 

There are some parents whose intellectual 
character is so feeble, and withal so unrefined, 
and in whom the mere instincts, or propensities 
of our nature are so strong, that they pursue a 
course of conduct with their children, not only 
not calculated to train aright the opposive 
instinct ; but of which the direct tendency is 
to increase, to the utmost, its activity. Almost 
as soon as the child begins to speak, he is 
taught to say "/ wori?t" when requested or 
bidden to do any thing. He has, not impro- 
bably, heard the expression from the lips of 
some other member of the family, at a time 
when he was encouraged to exercise the 
imitative faculty, by repeating, or trying to 
repeat, every word he heard. He understands 
by imitation, the natural language of opposive- 
ness, and has now learned its artificial language 
also ; and being the subject of the feeling, in a 
striking degree, he improves every opportunity 
to manifest that feeling, and to utter its lan- 
guage. This is a source of merriment to the 
misguided parents ; and, that they may enjoy 



IN THE FAMILY. 127 

much of it, the little one is many times a day 
required to repeat his lesson, of blank refusal 
to obey a command. Such is the lesson of his 
Infancy ; and when he advances to Childhood, 
the feeling is seen to have grown to positive 
Combativeness, even in the popular sense of 
that term : and its existence and energy, in the 
little subject of Nursery Discipline, is seen in 
the liberal distribution of blows, and cuffs, and 
kicks, to brothers and sisters, nurses, and even 
parents. The foolish father, it is not unlikely, 
accounts such displays of the combative Pro- 
pensity, to be evidences of manliness in his 
boy; and encourages, rather than represses 
them. He will hold sham boxing-matches 
with his unfortunate little son ; and exhibit his 
precocious pugilism, for the amusement of his 
own visitors. Yet this same parent, when, by 
the course he has adopted, he has called into 
incessant, and almost uncontrollable activity, 
this propensity, on finding it operate against 
the exercise of his own authority, undertakes 
to vindicate that authority, by the employment 
of forcible measures to subdue the child's will 
to his. Such a remedy, so far from removing, 



128 PHRENOLOGY 

only aggravates the violence of the disease ; and 
bad is, most generally, made ivorse and worse. 
What is true of all the animal feelings, is 
especially true of this ; viz : that it is excited 
by opposition : for opposition is, plainly, the 
very pabulum vitse of Opposiveness. And, if 
it be true that, 

" 'Tis education forms the common mind, 

Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined ;" 

what can be expected, in the after life of a 
child thus trained, but that in childhood and 
youth he will be disrespectful to superiors ; 
contentious and quarrelsome towards equals ; 
overbearing, unkind and tyrannical towards 
inferiors ; and the object of aversion among all : 
and that, as a man, he will be universally shun- 
ned and detested. To trace out these conse- 
quences, from the training which produces 
them, would occupy more time and space than 
can be devoted to it ; we must leave parents, in 
their own reflections, to trace them out ; aided, 
alas ! by the illustrations which actual cases, 
occurring under almost every one's observation, 
will afford them. 



IN THE FAMILY. 129 



ACQUISITIVENESS. 



The education of this faculty is by no means 
an easy task. In the endeavour to train it, first 
principles must never be lost sight of. We 
must not forget that, like all the others, this 
faculty is innate, and cannot therefore be 
eradicated ; that it is an original element of 
our nature, and therefore must have a legitimate 
sphere of activity : that sphere we must dis- 
cover, and to that we must aim to confine it : 
its activity cannot be prevented ; but it requires 
to be directed and controlled. It is much to 
be regretted that the education actually given 
to the feeling of Acquisitiveness, is such as 
tends directly and powerfully to increase its 
activity and energy ; while it is not at all 
calculated to illuminate it, and secure its 
activity in a right direction : and thus the 
covetousness of which parents sometimes com- 
plain, in their children, is the natural conse- 
quence of the misdirection of this feeling ; for 
covetousness is only the undue activity of 
acquisitiveness. In some children the desire 



130 PHRENOLOGY 

to possess, or the sense of property, is natural- 
ly too strong. In such, therefore, according to 
the general principles laid down in a former 
chapter, and since, frequently reverted to, it 
should be kept as still as possible, in order to 
enfeeble it. Instead, however, of receiving 
such training, it is actually stimulated ; and 
this, in order to render it instrumental in 
securing the docility and obedience of the child. 
A parent learns, f*rom observation, that this 
feeling is among the most powerful by which 
a certain child is actuated ; and that he will do 
almost any thing for reward, when that reward 
is presented in the shape of something tangi- 
ble, and that may be retained. Perhaps, also, 
it is perceived that he is by no means remark- 
able for diligence and laborious ness in the 
studies of his age, or' for obedience to the 
authority of either parents or instructors. The 
course pursued with him, is, to propose to him 
such a reward as that above mentioned, for 
diligence in his studies, or obedience to his 
superiors ; and it is found to work admirably : 
— the reward is always secured. 

But this course is totally erroneous, and 



IX THE FAMILY. 131 

must be deeply injurious to the subject of such 
education : and a moment's reflection will not 
fail to convince us of it. It is obvious that the 
very object of this course of procedure is to 
excite to activity a feeling already by supposi- 
tion, too active. Now since activity augments 
the power of a feeling, the tendency of this 
course is to increase the power, as well as the 
activity of Acquisitiveness : to make it act with 
greater energy : and thus more completely to 
enslave the child to a propensity which already 
threatens to lead him captive. Is not such a 
course wholly erroneous ? And the magnitude 
of the error appears the greater, the more 
closely it is examined. In such a course of 
procedure the moral nature of the child is 
wholly overlooked ; to it no appeals are made, 
but, on the contrary, appeals, incentives, 
stimuli are presented to a mere animal feeling, 
the direct tendency of which appeals, is, to 
subjugate the moral nature of the pupil to 
the dominion of that feeling. But since the 
animal is the lowest, and the moral the high- 
est nature of the child, and since it is the 
design of our Maker that the Moral nature 



132 PHRENOLOGY 

should subordinate the Animal to itself and to 
Him, it is obvious that the purpose of nature, 
— the will of God, — is contravened by the 
training acquisitiveness receives ; or in other 
words, that it is altogether erroneous. He 
is not taught to revere the authority of his 
parent or teacher ; i. e. Veneration is not 
cultivated : nor is he taught to regard duty, or 
what is right, and therefore, ought to be done ; 
i. e. Conscientiousness is not cultivated : but 
he is hired to do his duty. Is this not a 
capital error ? If any doubt is entertained on 
this question, it will be removed by following 
this kind of education out to its consequences. 
By such a training of the feeling in question 
Reverence and Conscientiousness are enfeebled, 
by want of exercise ; while Acquisitiveness is 
strengthened, by unheal thful stimulus : and the 
views taken by the child, of right, and duty, 
and filial reverence, are greatly modified by this 
change in the relative energy of these feelings. 
Having been always hired to perform what it 
was his duty to have done freely, he takes it for 
granted that his parent has done right in hiring 
him : and that he has done right, in performing 



IN THE FAMILY. 133 

duty for a reward : and hence soon learns to 
think the price he receives for obedience is his 
clue^ — that he may claim it, — and may refuse 
obedience if not compensated for rendering it ; 
— that without remuneration obedience cannot 
be righteously demanded ; — and that the rightful 
exercise of parental authority, in demanding it, 
is little, if anything, else than domestic tyranny. 
Such are some of the consequences naturally 
flowing from that treatment of Acquisitiveness 
now under consideration: and the appeal may be 
safely made to any intelligent mother, whether 
a procedure of which such is the tendency, 
is not wholly erroneous ? It not only introduces 
those new evils just enumerated, but it perpe- 
tuates and aggravates the evil itself. The 
demands of the feeling so injudiciously indulged 
and gratified, will soon become more extensive, 
and more clamorous : " higher wages" will be 
demanded for obedience and industry ; nor can 
we assign any limits beyond which we are 
certain these demands will not rise ; for, says 
Spurzheim, the demands of the animal feelings 
are, in their nature, insatiable. We will point 
11 



134 PHRENOLOGY 

out those consequences, without needlessly- 
enlarging on them. 

When the excessive activity of Acquisitive- 
ness is occasioned by the injudicious treatment 
we have adverted to ; or when by the same 
means, it has attained a strength no longer to 
be borne by the parent, a necessity is felt that 
it should be punished. Sometimes a depriva- 
tion of food, or fruit, or some valued toy, or 
other article, is resorted to, as a punishment 
sure to be felt, in the case of such a child. 
But this is injudicious, and must result in dis- 
appointment and defeat : for be it remembered, 
Acquisitiveness, or the desire to possess, is an 
animal feeling ; and that all such feelings are 
only excited by opposition. The training 
which such a child has received, leads him to 
conclude, as we have shown above, that that of 
which he is deprived, as a punishment, is his 
due ; — that he has a right to it ; and that in 
being deprived of it his right is violated. 
Thus his sense of right, — an erroneous one 
indeed, but yet all the sense of right that he 
has, — is outraged ; and Conscientiousness, 
blindly and erroneously active, is arrayed 



IN THE FAMILY. 135 

against the discipline to which he is subjected: 
and the difficulty is increased of rendering that 
discipline efficacious, in exactly the degree in 
which Conscientiousness, or the sense of justice, 
is strong in the child. For it must be remem- 
bered that the moral feelings are, in themselves, 
as blind as are the animal $nes : and the func- 
tion of the organ of Conscientiousness is, not 
to impart the knowledge of what is right and 
just ; but only to give the feeling that there 
is a difference between right and wrong; — 
justice and injustice. Now it is difficult by 
discipline to accomplish the objects it contem- 
plates, while the feeling pervades the mind of 
the subject of discipline, that he has right on 
his side ; the first step towards success must 
be taken, by correcting his conception of right : 
but in the case supposed it has not only not been 
corrected, but has actually been perverted. 

Outraged Conscientiousness in such a case 
cannot be expected to act alone : Firmness, 
(whose function is to give permanence to the 
activity of whatever feeling may be predomi- 
nant) will lend its aid, and render the offender 
obstinate ; and the more hopelessly so because, 



136 PHRENOLOGY 

with perverted Conscientiousness, he will feel 
that he suffers as a martyr for justice. Com- 
bativeness is also roused to resistance (of 
injustice as the offender has been trained to 
believe) and Destructiveness contributes its 
fearful energy in the same mistaken direction. 
Self-Esteem too, is. wounded at the degradation 
he suffers ; and thus pride is enlisted on the 
side of passion. Moreover, to the combined 
activity of these feelings must be added that of 
acquisitiveness itself, in the augmentation of 
the difficulty, and in the rendering certain of 
disappointment and defeat. The child inter- 
prets the conduct of the parent, according to 
the principles which have dominion in his own 
breast. Now, by the supposition, covetousness 
is the ruling feeling in him : accordingly, he 
ascribes his parent's act, .in depriving him of 
the gratification in question, to the prevalence 
of this disposition, — to a desire to possess, or 
to save that fruit or food. And as he under- 
stands, for he is distinctly told, that this is 
intended to punish covetousness in him, he 
regards the statement as mere pretence ; and 
despises what he considers the hypocrisy of 



IN THE FAMILY. 137 

punishing him for that, as an evil, which his 
parent practices, as a duty, in the very act of 
punishing him. Imitation thus learns to 
practice deceit ; Conscientiousness becomes 
numb with respect to the evil of such practice ; 
and Veneration, for the moral probity of his 
parent, is enfeebled : and the advice and 
instruction of that parent at a future time, will 
be little likely to be welcome, and scarcely can 
be greatly influential for good. 

But we may be asked for some suggestions 
as to the right mode of training this feeling. 
We say in the first place, never excite it. 
More than this it can scarcely be necessary to 
say here ; having already shown how it may, 
and how it certainly will be excited ; viz : by 
being catered to and indulged ; and also by 
blank opposition and mortification. The next 
direction to be observed is, as much as possible 
preserve it in a state of inactivity in order to its 
enfeeblement : present as few of its appropriate 
objects as possible to it, in order that it may 
remain inactive. Thirdly, Never allow an 
instance of its improper activity to pass un- 
noticed, nor uncorrected ; but be very careful 



138 PHRENOLOGY 

how you set about the duty of correction. 

Always endeavour, as a first step, to enlighten 

the child's intellect, as to the real nature of the 

act you would correct. When this is done, 

you have his understanding on your side ; and 

if you make a wise use of this advantage, you 

will soon enlist his moral feelings also, in your 

behalf. By such a procedure you will secure 

the child's own co-operation in the effort to 

suppress the excessive activity of the feeling : 

and though the discipline to which you may 

subject him may be self-denying and painful, 

he will see the reasonableness, the propriety, 

and necessity of the measure, and yield to it, 

as wise, and right, and good. Fourthly^ Afford 

opportunities, and present encouragements, to 

the practice of generosity and self-sacrifice : 

and whenever they are practised, do not fail to 

afford the reward of a smile, and an approving 

word. By this means he will learn that he is 

observed ; and, when he does his duty is 

approved also. But do not reward such acts 

by gratuities ; for this were to stimulate a 

feeling which you are aiming to weaken : and 

one such stimulus would do more to strength- 



IN THE FAMILY. 139 

en it, than five acts of generosity would, to 
overcome it : while, by the praise you bestow 
on such acts you stimulate Approbativeness 
and Benevolence, and render them auxiliary, 
in the conquest of a too active Acquisitiveness. 

The following instances from the appendix 
to the Report of the Edinburgh Infant School 
Society, in Mr. Simpson's work on Popular 
Education, are exceedingly happy illustrations 
of the foregoing suggestions : — instances in 
which, through an enlightened intellect, mea- 
sures were adopted whose tendency was to 
keep inactive an excessive Acquisitiveness ; 
and to make the nobler sentiments to over- 
grow it. 

" L One of the children lost a halfpenny in 
the play ground. The mistress was so certain 
4hat it would be found and accounted for, that 
she lent the loser a halfpenny. Some time 
after, when the incident was almost forgotten, 
one of the boys, J. F., found a halfpenny in 
the play ground ; and although no one saw him 
find it, he brought it at once to the Teacher. 
As the latter knew nothing about the loss of 
the halfpenny. already alluded to, it appeared to 



140 PHRENOLOGY 

him a halfpenny without an owner : but one of 
the children suggested that it must be the lost 
halfpenny, for which the mistress had given a 
substitute. ' What then shall be done with 
it V Many voices answered, ' The mistress 
should get it.' The girl who had lost the 
halfpenny was called out, and she at once 
knew her own. It was given to her, and she 
immediately transferred it to the mistress. The 
teacher then appealed to the whole school, ' Is 
that right V (Addressing Conscientiousness 
through the Intellect.) ' Yes ! yes ! right ! 
right V was called out by the whole assemblage 
with much applause and animation. The last 
accompaniment of their approbation is strongly 
contrasted with the more tranquil, and evidently 
regretting way in which they condemn, when 
any thing is wrong." (Firmness sustaining 
the decisions of enlightened Conscientiousness; 
even though Benevolence is pained by the 
infliction of punishment.) 

" 2. A penny was found in the play ground, 
which had lain so long as to be mouldy and 
rusty. It was held up for an owner ; but 
claimed by none. ' What shall we do with 



IN THE FAMILY. 141 

it ?' ' Keep it, master, keep it.' i Why should 
I keep it ? I have no right to it, more than any- 
one here.' (An appeal to Conscientiousness 
through Intellect : and also to Benevolence and 
Imitation by the denial of Acquisitiveness, in 
the teacher himself.) This was puzzling to all, 
till a little girl, not four years old, stood up and 
said ' Put it in the box.' Many voices seconded 
this excellent motion, and the master referred 
it to a show of hands : up went every hand 
in the school, most of the children showing 
both hands for a greater certainty ; and the 
penny was put into the subscription-box amid 
cheers of animation and delight." 

3. The following case, kindred in its charac- 
ter, strikingly exhibits the effects, on the Moral 
Sentiments, of appealing to them through an 
enlightened Intellect, for the purpose of check- 
ing the activity of Acquisitiveness : " P. M. 
was brought to solemn trial before the whole 
school, for keeping up a penny of his weekly 
school fee." After the trial and award, which 
were both just and judicious, the teacher asked 
the school, " How many of us have been tried 
now ?" A voice called out, " J. H. has been 



142 PHRENOLOGY 

tried." This was indignantly denied by J. H. 
The teacher turning to J. M. (the accuser of J. 
H,?) asked him " if he had ever been tried ?" 
He hung his head and answered " yes. " 
" What was it for." " Master, do you not 
remember yourself?" " I do : but are you any 
better for your trial and punishment." " I've 
never stolen since, any how." " What was 
your reason for not stealing ?" " I listened to 
the thing in my breast; and that told me it 
was a crime." The following is an analogous 
case. 

4. J. M's offence had been, watching, all the 
time of school, a penny-piece which had been 
dropped under the stove, and secretly appro- 
priating it, after school was dismissed. His 
confession stated that his* purpose was to buy 
marbles ; but felt so unhappy that he could not 
make up his mind to look upon what he should 
purchase. (Acquisitiveness and Conscientious- 
ness in simultaneous, and conflicting activity.) 
8 He formed the singular resolution to expend 
the money in something eatable, (Acquisitive- 
ness enlisting Alimentiveness in its aid, to 
overpower the activity of Conscientiousness,) 



IN THE FAMILY. 143 

that he might get it out of his sight. This he 
did, and gave a share to a school-fellow. He 
was asked whether his conscience did not up- 
braid him. He answered, " It did not speak 
very loud at first ; but I grew very unhappy, 
and was happier after I was tried and punished." 
His contrite tears moved the compassion of his 
numerous judges (Benevolence active) who 
wished to spare him: but this was not admissible 
in the circumstances,' (the supremacy of 
Justice, i. e. Conscientiousness, maintained) 
* and a few pats on the hand were the form of 
corporal punishment allotted him. He was 
sorely tempted ; for he confessed that he kept 
his eye on the penny-piece for two hours before 
he took it.' It would be interesting to make 
further extracts, but they are not needed. 

You may in training an acquisitive child, 
secure the agency of Conscientiousness, and 
its co-operation. Advert frequently to the rights 
of others, — the rights of property which belong 
to them, and which such a child is strongly 
tempted to invade. Insist on the inviolability 
of those rights, even in the minutest particular: 
and especially, let it be evident that you your- 



144 PHRENOLOGY 

self regard those rights, and scrupulously 
practice the precepts you inculcate. Thus 
will you avail yourself of the aid of the child's 
Eventuality and Imitation, as your coadjutors 
in training the feeling of Acquisitiveness. The 
covetous child is usually selfish. To remedy 
this evil let him be your companion in your 
visits to the abodes of poverty, affliction, and 
distress ; and witness the joy which benevo- 
lence, in the form of pecuniary or other aid, 
will inspire, and the gratitude it will awaken 
in the object of its bestowment : and express 
to him freely the pure and exalted pleasure you 
find in the diffusion of happiness by such 
means ; and even in foregoing some personal 
indulgences and gratifications in order to such 
a diffusion of happiness. This course will, 
not improbably, sap the fortress to its over- 
throw, which you could never carry by storm. 
Self-love, in the child, will desire to participate 
in the pleasure you experience from acts of 
benevolence ; and Imitation will prompt to the 
adoption of the same means to obtain it ; and 
Benevolence, by exercise, will gather strength, 
and Eventuality will observe the gleam of joy 



IN THE FAMILY. 145 

in the countenance of the beneficiary ; and 
Self-Esteem will be gratified with the conscious- 
ness of living to some worthy purpose ; and 
Conscientiousness, with the thought of having - 
performed a duty ; and Approbativeness with 
that of having pleased God. Thus many 
faculties will unitedly and harmoniously ope- 
rate, in due subordination to the Moral Senti- 
ments, and in connexion w T ith them, to overtop 
the growth of the appetite to possess, or ac- 
quire. 

But we have said that this appetite cannot 
be eradicated ; and we do not forget that state- 
ment : it ivill exist, and, if naturally strong, it 
will operate energetically. What we have said 
of each of the other feelings is equally true of 
this ; viz : that to educate it aright, it must be 
directed ; and in order to its direction aright it 
must be illuminated. Be at pains, therefore, not 
m°rely to inform the child, but to explain to 
him, what is the nature of the feeling which 
it is necessary for him to subordinate : — viz : 
that it is a blind, and a mere animal instinct ; 
one which prevails greatly in some of the tribes 
of meaner animals. The writer had once an 
12 



146 PHRENOLOGY 

opportunity of affording to a child an exhibition 
of the nature of this feeling, which it may be 
well here to record, as an example of what is 
meant by explaining the nature of a feeling. 

A boy, an adopted son of the writer, one 
day informed me that he had seen a large rat 
in the yard, take up an old dry bone, and 
carry it away. He wished me to inform him 
what the animal would do with it : whether he 
would eat it ? It may be proper to say here, 
that in this child, I had sometimes noticed the 
activity of a blind Acquisitiveness, in a degree 
that gave me some anxiety ; while yet it was 
always so controlled, as not to occasion any 
real alarm. I availed myself of the occasion 
which was presented by the above incident, to 
enlighten and control the feeling in question. 
The child was therefore informed that rats do 
not eat dry bones. This piece of information 
excited the desire for further knowledge on the 
subject : " What was he going to do with it ?" 
To this it was replied that rats have a very 
strong desire to get, and to hoard up : and that 
often they would seize and carry off substances 
which could be of no kind of use to them : 



IN THE FAMILY. 147 

such as could serve them neither for food, nor 
for a bed, as was the case with the old dry bone 
which he had seen the rat carry away. He 
was told also, that some men, who are idiots or 
insane, manifest the same ^disposition, not 
having reason to guide them ; and that such 
persons, when they exhibit this propensity de- 
serve our pity and not our censure or dislike : 
that in itself, therefore, the feeling is one of a 
mere animal, or of an irrational human being : 
and that any man, or any child, who yields 
himself up to its impulse, and allows it to 
govern him, is, so far, like a poor idiot, or 
maniac ; or even like a rat. Here the question 
was proposed to him. " Do you wish to be 
like a rat, or an idiot, or a madman ?" His 
Self-Esteem, having been thus enlightened 
through Intellect, he answered, " No, Sir." 
" Be careful then never to be a miser, nor a 
niggard, nor greedy or covetous : for remember, 
if you are, you will be like a rat /" It is highly 
gratifying to observe, from that time, how the 
activity of Acquisitiveness is modified, in the 
case of this child. It is not extinct ; it is not 
inactive: it operates with considerable energy, 



148 PHRENOLOGY 

but it is subjugated to Intellect and the Moral 
Sentiments, so far, that though strictly econo- 
mical in every thing, he is not parsimonious 
in anything : though he knows how to value 
any little item of property he may possess, he 
evinces the activity, in his mind, of the in- 
-quiry, Is it of any use ? and even if useful and 
valuable to himself, he is ready to relinquish it, at 
the bidding of Benevolence ; but especially of 
Conscientiousness. 

The education of Acquisitiveness does not 
forbid that it be even exercised. When it is 
so large and powerful as that it will act, it is 
incumbent on parents to watch its activity, and 
give it such a direction as is consistent with the 
supremacy of the Moral Sentiments. For ex- 
ample, a portion of the % garden, a peach or 
plum-tree, may be cultivated by the child, in 
order to sell the produce. This will tend to 
secure health, and promote physical develope- 
ment in the child; and to form habits of activi- 
ty and industry. But care should be taken 
that Acquisitiveness do not, in such cases, act 
alone, nor in combination with the other ani- 
mal or selfish feelings ; but in connexion with 



IN THE FAMILY. 149 

the higher feelings, or Sentiments. Cultivate 
Benevolence and Reverence together with it, 
by showing him that property, in its proper 
uses, will enable us to honour God, and to 
benefit men ; — that it is God who has estab- 
lished such a connexion between wisely direct- 
ed labour, and property, as that the acquisi- 
tion of property results, regularly, from labor 
so directed : and hence, that it is a reasonable 
duty to devote a portion of our property to 
his service : — that to supply the wants, ani- 
mal, intellectual and moral, of the destitute of 
our own species, is to " honour the Lord with 
our substance :" and that, therefore, it is 
his (the child's ) duty to devote the produce of 
this part of his garden, this fruit-tree or that 
strawberry-bed, to some object or objects of 
benevolence. Expatiate on the pleasures of 
beneficence ; and thus stimulate Benevolence, 
in the child; — and especially act yourself, 
upon the principle you lay down for the regula- 
tion of his conduct ; and devote, regularly a 
proportion of your property, or income, to the 
objects you recommend to his favourable no- 
tice. This will enlist Imitation and Acquisi- 
12* 



150 PHRENOLOGY 

tiveness in the service of Benevolence, Con- 
scientiousness, and Veneration. 

You may even train your child to gain and 
hoard ; provided only that the objects he 
collects are such as enlightened Intellect and 
the Moral Sentiments approve. For example, 
he may be encouraged to collect a cabinet of 
Natural History, Minerals, Shells, Insects, &c. 
together with suitable microscopic objects. 
The encouragement of the child in this course 
however, requires some care. He must not 
multiply objects of the same kind ; because 
this gratifies Acquisitiveness only. Especially 
must this be guarded against with regard to 
Insects, or things possessed of animal life : for 
in that case Destruetiveness would be excited, 
and cruelty might be the result. It is impor- 
tant too, that the ehild should be led to survey 
GWinhis works ; his wisdom, and power, and 
goodness, as seen in these objects, should be 
rendered prominent objects of notice to the 
pupil : and thus his Veneration, Ideality, 
Wonder, and Benevolence addressed ; and the 
love and fear of the Supreme Being, awakened 
through his works. In the family of the wri- 



IN THE FAMILY. 151 

ter, this course of treatment has been pursued, 
with the happiest results, in the case of two 
brothers : — their conversion to God, at a very- 
early age. When they entered the family, at 
the ages of eight and ten years, very little 
attention had been paid to them, in the way of 
education of any kind. They had, indeed, 
heard something of God, and their own charac- 
ters by nature ; but this information, if it 
deserve the name, had been given to them, 
principally, through catechisms and hymns, 
and in the language of Scripture ; while their 
teachers, were evidently ignorant of human 
nature, and had made almost no efforts to en- 
lighten their Intellect. Almost the earliest 
worthy conceptions these children had, of the 
natural and moral perfections of the Deity, 
were such as they were led to form, by survey- 
ing some of the minute works of his hand 
through a microscope. The excitement of 
their Wonder was seized upon, to awaken their 
Veneration, and to excite their Cautiousness, 
lest the power of God, exhibited in the wonders 
of the Microscope, should be employed 
against them : while at the same time his good- 



152 PHRENOLOGY 

ness, equally displayed in those wonders, was 
urged to awaken their Hope, and enkindle 
their love, and ( especially as seen beyond 
creation, viz. in redemption) to excite their 
repentance. The success of the effort was 
such as should encourage its repetition in other 
cases ; — they became, very shortly the subjects, 
it is hoped, of real religion, and were num- 
bered, at the ages of ten and twelve, among the 
professed servants of God. 

SECRETIVENESS. 

Secretiveness, as its name imports, is the 
instinct to conceal. It exists, in different 
children, in every variety of degree. In some 
it is exceedingly energetic ; and in such a case 
there is a strong tendency in the child to 
dissimulation, or the acting of a part. The 
language of the poet may be reversed, with 
respect to the conduct of such a child : " Here, 
real and apparent are" not " the same." All 
that he does will be invested with an air of 
concealment : — will be covertly done ; and this, 
even though there be nothing which is wrong ; 
or which requires concealment; or indeed, 



IN THE FAMILY. 153 

which is worth concealing. He will endeavour 
to accomplish all his objects circuitously ; 
without observation. He will evince what, in 
more mature life, is called " tact" and 
" management" in all he does. He will be 
the agent, while others are made the instru- 
ments : will, to use a common adage, " pull 
the wires," but will, himself, remain behind 
the scenes. The excessive activity of this 
feeling, is an evil ; and one to the correction of 
which the early and unremitting attention of 
parents and teachers should be directed. Under 
proper direction, and in proper degree, it is not 
only permissible, but useful and good ; and, as 
in the case of all the other feelings, it is only 
the excessive and blind activity of it from 
which evil is to be apprehended. When seen 
in excess, it too often happens that injudicious, 
and injurious attempts are made to correct and 
eradicate it. 

Such a child usually obtains the character of 
being sly, artful, cunning, crafty : — he may, 
indeed, be so ; but his large Secretiveness does 
not, necessarily, render him so. Slyness, art, 
cunning, and craft, are abuses of the propensi- 



154 PHRENOLOGY 

ty ; — the results of its being uncontrolled, or 
misdirected ; and sometimes, (little as it may- 
be suspected) results from the improper at- 
tempts made to eradicate it. When this 
feeling manifests itself strongly, especially if 
the parent has become, in any thing, its dupe, 
it is likely the child is subjected to punishment. 
Now this is unwise : let it always be remem- 
bered that Secretiveness is an instinct of our 
nature ; and that the child, wholly unenlight- 
ened, can no more understand how the desire 
of concealment can be wrong, than how the 
desire to eat and drink can be wrong. He 
receives punishment, therefore, which he can- 
not see that he deserves ; and his sense of 
justice, is indignant at the wrong he suffers ; 
but is wholly blind and insensible to that he 
has done. Combativeness and Firmness, are 
also roused, in connexion with Conscientious- 
ness ; and he resists the power which tramples, 
as he thinks, on his rights. But this is not 
all. He regards the punishment he suffers, as 
the consequence of an imperfect exercise of 
Secretiveness ; and hence, is careful in future, 
not to avoid the practice, but to become a 



IN THE FAMILY. 155 

more perfect adept in the science of deception. 
And it is more than probable that he will be 
successful in his efforts ; for two or three 
reasons : first, greater care, with the same 
powers will enable him to accomplish more 
than before, because the powers are in a high- 
er state of excitement than they were previous- 
ly : secondly, he conceives that he has suffered 
punishment for failure of success, and not for 
fault, in the act itself of deception ; and hence, 
the punishment disciplines Secretiveness, and 
not Conscientiousness ; and, by this means, 
increases its power: thirdly, Secretiveness is 
an animal propensity; and according to our 
elementary principles, it is strengthened by 
opposition or coercion : so that, on the whole 
punishment, while Intellect and the Moral 
Sentiments are not addressed, only tends to 
the increase of the evil which it would eradi- 
cate or enfeeble. 

Perhaps the next effort of the parent is to 
discourage concealment and dissimulation, by 
closely watching, and always, if possible, 
detecting the operations of Secretiveness. But 
this course is also unwise : for, if the parent 



156 PHRENOLOGY 

has not as great or greater Secretiveness than 
the child, it is pretty certain that, sometimes, 
the child will be successful : and one such 
instance of success will be treasured in memory, 
by Eventuality, and will inspirit Hope, so as 
to stimulate Secretiveness, more than twenty 
detections would accomplish in preventing its 
activity. And supposing the parent never fails 
to detect the attempt at concealment, this only 
exhibits, to the child, a Secretiveness more 
perfect than its own ; and thus excites Imitation 
to activity, and this still further stimulates 
Secretiveness. It also receives, additional 
stimulus from another faculty : Secretiveness 
in the parent is matched against the same 
feeling in the child ; and, of course, Combative- 
ness, or the love of contest, furnishes its 
stimulus to his Secretiveness. How can it be 
otherwise, under such circumstances, than that 
the remedies, for such they are called, and 
designed to be, should aggravate the symptoms 
of the disease ? 

Secretiveness, in the parent, is by no means 
an unimportant faculty, in the education of the 
same feeling in the child ; but the proper 



IN THE FAMILY. 157 

sphere for its activity is, the endeavour to 
prevent, rather than to detect his attempts, to 
conceal, or to deceive. This will keep it in 
some measure inactive ; and in exactly the 
same measure will it tend to the weakening of 
the propensity. It is highly important to avoid 
the exhibition of pleasure or satisfaction at any 
manifestations of this feeling in your child ; for 
such exhibitions are gratifications of his Appro- 
bativeness, and will insure a repetition of the 
manifestation, at the first favorable opportunity; 
in order to reap again the reward of his parent's 
smile. Of course Secretiveness gains power, 
by every such repetition of its exercise. Never 
consider, for it is not true, that a tendency to 
conceal, to dissemble, or to act a part, is indica- 
tive of talent, i. e. of intellect. There is no 
intellect in it : it is a mere feeling ; and the 
same feeling which prompts the cat to conceal 
herself till she can securely dart upon her prey : 
and we have never yet heard of an intellectual 
cat. Let not parents, then, be deceived ; they 
must not flatter themselves, that cunning gives 
any promise of intellectual greatness ; and still 
less should they conceive of it as being of a 
13 



1 58 PHRENOLOGY 

nature to merit approbation, as if possessing 
moral worth. 

In the education of this feeling in any child, 
and especially in one in whom it is very active, 
great care is requisite. Proper use must be 
made of the Intellect of the pupil : he must be 
shown distinctly that it is not intellect, but 
feeling ; and one of a class of feelings too, 
which ally him to the lower animals, many of 
which possess it in much greater perfection 
than he does. This will tend to sober his 
estimate of its worth, and importance. More- 
over, great care should be taken never to 
practice deception, or insincerity in his pre- 
sence. Parents should never be " extremely 
gratified to see dear friends" when they really 
wish them at the bottom of the sea ; or at 
least, as far off as possible : — they should 
never make large, or heartless professions, of 
any kind; for they may rest assured that a 
child, with large Secretiveness, will discover 
that they have assumed a mask ; and will not 
fail to imitate them. We would say to all 
parents, but especially to parents of such 
children, resolutely and undeviatingly deter- 



IN THE FAMILY. 159 

mine to be all that you profess and pretend to 
be, and you cannot, by any more effectual 
means, teach your child to appear what he 
really is. Such a course of training may be 
expected to result thus : your child will not, 
cannot, have the feeling annihilated ; for it is 
innate ; but he will experience a modification 
of it : in his future life it will appear in the 
form of prudence and reserve ; and not in that 
of cunning. He cannot be Solomon's "fool 
who uttereth all his mind;" — the constitution 
of his mind renders this impossible ; but he 
will be " the wise man," of the same sacred 
writer, " who keepeth it in, till afterward." A 
proper cultivation of his Intellectual and Moral 
nature will not allow him to condescend to 
craft, subtil ty, evasion, and all the thousand 
nameless manifestations of hypocrisy and 
deceit ; but he will be prudent, reserved, and, 
without being inquisitive into the affairs of 
others, will so instinctively penetrate their 
plans and motives, as that he will rarely, and 
almost never, become the dupe of the unprinci- 
pled and designing. 

From these remarks it is obvious that this 



160 PHRENOLOGY 

faculty in man is highly useful ; and that, 
indeed, without it a man would be unfit for the 
world in which we live : he would stand in 
need of our pity, and especially would this be 
the case, in civilized society. He would really 
be in the situation in which, it is said, that an 
ancient philosopher desired to be ; — he would 
have " a window in his breast, so that every 
passer-by, might look in, and see what was 
passing there." But, had his wish been 
granted, whatever of reputation he might 
previously have possessed, for wisdom, he 
must have suffered the loss of it : — our thoughts, 
to a great extent, are involuntary, and flow in 
upon us from a variety of sources ; — they form 
incongruous, and sometimes even absurd and 
injurious combinations ; and it would be highly 
improper to pour them forth at our lips, in a 
constant current. It is Secretiveness, modified 
into Prudence, which " keeps the door of our 
lips ;" and either wholly suppresses the utter- 
ance of the thoughts and feelings, or commands 
silence until the Intellect perceives that the 
time has arrived to speak. 



IN THE FAMILY. 161 



FEAR, OR CAUTIOUSNESS. 

The feeling of Timidity, or Fear, is the 
next of those emotions for which the Nursery 
at Home is the proper field of training, or edu- 
cation. This feeling is the effect of either 
large or excited Cautiousness ; and where the 
organ is large, especially if uncontrolled or 
unenlightened, it is spontaneously active, and 
very easily excited ; and not unfrequently is 
roused to a state of morbid activity. It is 
wisely arranged that in most children this feel- 
ing shall be active ; because as the young 
creatures are exposed to numerous dangers, its 
activity contributes to their safety. But very 
much of the happiness of the individual de- 
pends on its being properly educated. When 
active and misdirected its subject may through- 
out its life time be only a sufferer. Yes a 
sufferer: for the feeling is, in such cases, 
entirely involuntary ; and where it is excessive 
in degree, the child may be considered really 
unfortunate. To educate it aright, we must, 
as in the former case, bear in mind its nature, 
13* 



162 FHRENOLOGY 

and its origin. In its nature it is an animal 
feeling ; and its origin we have already stated 
to be, an over-active Cautiousness. As an 
animal feeling or propensity, it will be increas- 
ed, like all others of the same class, by all 
direct and forcible means to suppress it : and 
being the result of an already too active Cau- 
tiousness, special care must be taken never to 
afford to that organ, excitement. It is a feeling 
which has various modes of manifestation : as, 
a dislike to enter the company of strangers ; a 
cleaving to the side, or arms of parents when 
introduced to strangers ; dread of solitude, or 
of darkness, and the like. The two former are 
comparatively harmless and unimportant modes 
of its exhibition : but it is otherwise with the 
dread of solitude, or of darkness, or of both 
united. 

Perhaps some persons may smile at the 
expression, when we say, that we should 
consider such cases, as instances of real disease; 
and should subject them to a correspondent 
treatment. It is a fact, with which phrenolo- 
gists are familiar, that when any one organ is 
unusually developed, while others, whose 



IN THE FAMILY. 163 

activity would tend to control or modify it, 
are not in nearly equal developement, the organ 
in excess will act alone, without the consent of 
the other organs. This is in accordance with 
our principle that " each organ may act or 
repose, either separately, or simultaneously 
with others." Moreover, it is a fact equally 
well known to them, that disease, in individual 
organs of the brain, usually occurs in the case 
of organs developed in excess : and that each 
organ may be diseased or in health, while the 
others are in an opposite state. Now, by the 
supposition, (and the facts will always be found 
to be in strict accordance with it) Cautiousness 
is large in the timid child ; and not only large, 
but consequently active. Moreover, excessive 
timidity can scarcely exist ; — we may say 
cannot exist, — where the controlling organs are 
in equal developement : with Cautiousness in 
the timid (i. e. the excessively timid) child, 
therefore, they are not in this equal develope- 
ment ; and there are present the conditions of 
disease, in his organization, and the symptoms 
of disease in its manifestations : why then may 
we not say that the subject of these conditions 



164 PHRENOLOGY 

and symptoms is diseased ? And the disease 
is so serious and dangerous, that a few words 
on the treatment proper for it are requisite. 
Some persons take pleasure in meeting with 
a child thus afflicted, and amuse themselves by 
exciting its terrors. They suppose, perhaps, 
that darkness, or their stories of ghosts, &c. 
cannot really injure the child, because none of 
its bones are broken, and none of its five ex- 
ternal senses are impaired by them : but this 
is a capital error. An injury is done, in such 
cases, far greater than if two or three limbs 
were broken ; or the child injured, for life, in 
one or two of its external senses. If the con- 
duct of these torturers result from thoughtless- 
ness, there is that apology for it, which our 
blessed Redeemer offered for his murderers : 
" They know not what they do :" but if it be 
done either wantonly, or to acquire or retain 
influence over the child, and secure his obedi- 
ence ; or if it be made the instrument of 
punishment, no terms of reprobation are too 
strong to employ in reference to such conduct. 
The language of the Psalmist, respecting the 
effect on himself, of the terrors of the Almighty, 



IN THE FAMILY. 165 

has been often applicable, in all the terribleness 
of its literal import, to the victims of this diaboli- 
cal cruelty : " While I suffer thy terrors I am 
distracted" Many, alas! too many by hundreds, 
are the well authenticated instances of absolute 
idiocy being the immediate and permanent 
consequence of shutting up a timid child in a 
dark closet ; to say nothing of a multitude of 
other cases, where fits or death resulted from 
the same, or similar causes. A tyrannical 
teacher, or an ignorant domestic, have often, by 
such means, infused unmingled bitterness into 
the cup of families, where, but for them, only 
domestic bliss had sparkled. 

The proper mode of educating the Cautious- 
ness of a timid child may be learned by asking 
the cause of his timidity ? It is Cautiousness 
over active: let, then, a course be pursued, 
which shall tend to allay its excitement. This 
is best done through the medium of the Intel- 
lect. Enlighten this, and you do much towards 
the conquest of the fears of your child. Of 
this, the following fact, from the before mention- 
ed Infant School Report, presents a proof. 
" A gentleman was crossing a church-yard 



166 PHRENOLOGY 

(burial-ground) not altogether without the habit- 
ual dread of ghosts, witches, &c, which from his 
youth he found it impossible to separate from 
the place ; and met, in his way, a little girl of 
five years old, marching, all alone, through the 
same place. He asked her if she was not 
afraid to go through the church-yard alone ? 
"Not a bit;" was her reply, " We learn" 
(Intellect enlightened) " at Infant School, that 
ghosts and all that, is nonsense," 

The same illumination of the Intellect may 
take place at home. When the child is calm 
and confiding, introduce judiciously and kindly, 
in conversation, the subject of his constitution- 
al infirmity. Inform him, and impress it on 
his mind, that darkness is really nothing more 
than the absence of light ; that the objects in 
the room are the same — chairs, tables, books, 
&c. neither more nor less, in darkness as in 
light. Perhaps, if very timid, it may be wise 
to let the lesson stop here for the present, and 
allow the pupil to digest it at leisure. On the 
next occasion resume the subject by asking 
him what darkness is ! — Whether it changes, 
diminishes, or increases the objects in the 



IN THE FAMILY. 167 

room ? How you or he can make darkness ? 
If he knows not your meaning, bid him close 
the shutters, that he may see what the effect 
is. If, as the gloom increases, his terrors ap- 
pear to come over him, bid him think on your 
conversation, open the shutters, and go to 
play. It is most likely that at the next lesson 
he will be willing perfectly to close the shut- 
ters ; and probably, if you continue talking to 
him, he may not object to their continuing 
close a few moments. Assure him that the 
darkness of night is exactly like the darkness 
he has made, and that it is just as safe : so 
that he never need fear being in the dark. 
Similar training to that above mentioned, will 
lead him to see the groundlessness of his fears 
of solitude, or being alone ; and possibly, indeed 
your earliest lesson might with advantage 
be given on solitude, and your second on 
darkness. 

If the fears of your child arise from the 
apprehension of seeing spectres, ghosts, <fcc. 
it will be well to explain to him the causes of 
various mysterious things. This course of 
proceeding will insensibly lead him to perceive 



168 PHRENOLOGY 

that every effect has a cause, and that there are 
intelligible causes, for many mysterious effects: 
he is thus guarded against supposing that there 
is a supernatural cause for every strange thing 
he sees. It would be wise, also, to purchase 
or hire, for his amusement and instruction, a 
Magic Lantern : allow him by day-light to ex- 
amine the slides on which are painted skeletons 
and bloody heads, &c. Explain the nature and 
use of the Lens ; and especially how it operates 
on the figures in the slides, to enlarge them. 
Then close the shutters, ( having previously 
lighted the lamp ) and let him, with his own 
hands, make ghosts, &c. on a screen or wall. 
Tell him that many persons who have seen 
such things as those he has made on the wall, 
without knowing how they were produced, 
have really thought that they saw the objects 
themselves, instead of mere pictures ; and have 
been very much alarmed ; but, as he now 
knows, there was nothing for them to fear. 
Perhaps, in his first attempts, his joy may not 
be wholly without terror : terror at the sight 
of the goblins he has called up ; and joy at the 
thought that he can lay them, at his pleasure. 



IN THE FAMILY. 169 

A valuable book for parents, with a view to the 
explanation of mysterious appearances on 
natural principles, is Dr. Brewster's Natural 
Magic : but one more valuable still, with refer- 
ence to Spectral Illusions, and the explanation 
of them on philosophical principles, is the 
Edinburgh Phrenological Journal ; in some of 
the early numbers of which the subject is very 
satisfactorily discussed. 

It need only be added on the education of 
morbid Cautiousness in children, that it is of 
the utmost importance for the parent or attend- 
ant to be of a patient, gentle, benevolent 
disposition; and withal, intelligent, as to the 
nature of the faculty under their training. In 
all the intercourse held with such a child, by 
its parents or teachers, the utmost blandness 
and gentleness are indispensable. The reason 
of this necessity is, that the exhibition of such 
feelings and dispositions has a tendency to 
keep still the too susceptible Cautiousness of 
the child, or to sooth it, if excited : and accord- 
ing to the principles we have laid down, any 
faculty weakens by inaction. On the contrary 
if a parent or teacher, or domestic, be irritable, 
14 



170 



PHRENOLOGY . 



impatient, or nervous ; and especially, if igno- 
rant of the nature of the feeling with which 
they have to do, in the training of their charge, 
by incessantly leading the child to apprehend 
some suffering or punishment from their 
displeasure, they will infallibly do injury, by 
increasing the evil in question. Such persons 
maintain in almost constant activity, (and thus 
increase that activity) a principle already too 
active; — incessantly augment a feeling, at 
present excessive in the child ; and under such 
treatment, cure of the evil may be considered 
as hopeless. 

APPROBATIVENESS. 



We come now to treat of another, and more 
extensively operative feeling : — that innate sen- 
timent which may be designated, the desire of 
estimation. Such is its designation in some 
works on mental and moral science : but, by 
Phrenologists it is termed " Love of Approba- 
tion," or "Approbativeness." This faculty is 
called a " Sentiment" by phrenologists of every 
School ; and by those of Edinburgh it is pro- 



IN THE FAMILY. 171 

perly called a "Loicer Sentiment." It is so 
called, because man possesses it in common 
with some of the lower animals. It is this 
feeling, in the dog' and horse, which so 
keenly enjoys the cheering and soothing words 
of man, and his gentle pat, on the neck or 
side. 

Every one who turns his thoughts and atten- 
tion on his own inward feelings, must be 
conscious of the existence of the feeling in 
question : and happy is that person in whom 
it does not exist in excess ; at least so far as 
the approbation of man is the object of its 
activity. To the writer it appears certain that 
a very powerful sentiment in all persons ; 
though in some it may be stronger than in 
others ; and often it may not be manifested in 
the degree in which it really exists, in con- 
sequence of the modifying and controlling 
influence of other strong feelings, or of feelings 
and intellect combined. There is a difference 
among nations in this respect, as well as among 
individuals in the same nation. In the Ameri- 
can head it is generally larger than in the 
English ; but if it were only equally developed, 



172 PHRENOLOGY 

its manifestation in character, would be greater, 
in consequence of the more moderate develope- 
ment of Self-Esteem, which, in the English 
head, is usually large. It would be easy, if 
this were the place to do so, to find in the 
history of this country, since the Revolution, 
the causes of the excess of Approbativeness in 
the American character. It is our business in 
these pages, however, to point out the causes 
of the general largeness of this organ, and 
the general strength of this feeling, and not 
to give a national cast to our remarks. 

Independent, then, of original organization, 
(a subject which is admirably discussed by Mr. 
George Combe, in his work on the " Constitu- 
tion of Man," and which more properly 
belongs to such, a work, than to one on the 
education of the feelings,) we can see, in the 
education which Approbativeness actually re- 
ceives, both in this and other countries, causes 
which account for its great activity ; and to a 
considerable extent also, for the general " full- 
ness" or " largeness" of the organ of this 
Sentiment : the education bestowed upon this 
feeling has a direct tendency to increase its 



IN THE FAMILY. 173 

power. The principle x to which we find it 
necessary, quite frequently, to advert, viz : that 
" every faculty is strengthened by activity, and 
enfeebled by inaction" — would suggest the 
propriety of keeping still that now under 
notice ; inasmuch as it has, naturally, more 
than sufficient power, in a large majority of 
persons ; children as well as others. It should 
scarcely ever be excited by making appeals to 
it, with a view of securing docility and 
obedience to parents or teachers ; — perhaps, 
indeed, it should never be appealed to, except 
with reference to the approbation of God ; the 
" desire of his approbation" cannot be too 
strong, and when appeals are made to this 
feeling, in this connexion, Approbativeness is. 
not called into activity alone ; neither is it 
excited in connexion with the propensities, 
selfish or social; but together with the Moral 
Sentiments ; and while this is the case, the 
effect can scarcely be otherwise than beneficial. 
It would surprise one who has not adverted 
to the subject, to observe and record the 
multiplied appeals which are made to this 
faculty, in the actual training of children ; and 
14* 



174 PHRENOLOGY 

it would alarm those who should mark the 
frequency of these instances, if they should 
understand how the temporal and eternal 
interests of the children are imperiled by such 
treatment. This section will be occupied in 
bringing these things before the minds of those 
to whom the formation of the character of 
children is committed. 

Let us inquire what the education, or train- 
ing is, Avhich the desire of estimation, or 
" Approbativeness," actually receives? The 
feeling in question is manifested by the human 
subject, in all the periods of life, from very 
infancy to the extremest age. It is this feel- 
ing, as we have before intimated, which causes 
the little one to smile when noticed ; and this^ 
even before he can understand the terms in 
which he is addressed. And it is the same 
feeling which, in childhood, becomes a strong 
motive in prompting to obedience : — viz : th& 
wish to be praised. Mothers soon learn the 
power which this feeling gives to them, over 
their children ; but they do not so easily learn 
how they may wisely, and for the benefit of 



IN THE FAMILY. 175 

their children, employ that power. In proof 
of this look at facts. 

As soon as the child knows enough to value 
the love of its mother, she employs this feeling 
to sway his reluctant will to obedience to her 
commands ; when other, higher, and holier 
motives shoidd be urged. Obedience, in 
children, should flow from Conscientiousness, 
Reverence, and Adhesiveness, more than from 
Approbativeness, or Cautiousness. Thus we 
find the appeals of Scripture made to the for- 
mer, and not to the latter, except as auxiliary 
motives to obedience : " Children obey your 
parents in the Lord ; for this is right" Here 
the appeal is to Conscientiousness. " Honor 
thy father and thy mother," — the fifth com- 
mandment, addresses Veneration or Reverence. 
In John, 14, 15, obedience to the commands of 
the Saviour himself is urged, by an appeal to 
Adhesiveness : " If ye love me keep my com- 
mandments." As auxiliary motives appeals to 
Cautiousness or the fear of punishment, and to 
Approbativeness, or the desire of praise, are 
occasionally made ; but it is believed that to 
neither of these is the appeal made, as to a 



176 PHRENOLOGY 

ruling, or principal spring of action. Now how 
nearly in accordance with these suggestions of 
Holy Writ, is the mode of procedure actually 
adopted with children? We will suppose a 
mother to desire her little one to perform some 
act of duty, and the child to exhibit some degree 
of unwillingness. Instead of taking his hand 
in hers, and looking him in the face seriously, 
to secure attention, and explaining to him that 
it is right to obey her, — that she must be 
obeyed, — and that she will be pained by his 
disobedience, (thus appealing to the above 
three faculties) she takes a royal road to secure 
obedience, appealing to the single faculty of 
Approbativeness, and says, " Mama won't love 
you, if you disobey her." This, as the remarks 
above made, must show, is not acting in 
accordance with the nature of the child ; for it 
is appealing to but one motive, whten three at 
least, might have been addressed: and besides 
this, the motive appealed to, is inferior in its 
nature to two out of the three which should 
have been brought to bear on the child ; that 
being only a lower Sentiment, and these two 
of the highest in our nature. But there is 



IN THE FAMILY. 177 

another, and an extremely weighty objection to 
the course actually taken : — it is one which 
offends against that elevated morality which 
ought invariably to characterize the intercourse 
of a mother with her children. The mother, 
in the supposed case above, has secured her 
child's obedience by telling him a falsehood. 
She would love him, even if disobedient ; does 
love him, even when disobedient : and she 
may be assured that her child can read the 
natural language of maternal love, with suffi- 
cient clearness and confidence, to convict her, 
at the bar of his intellect, of having spoken an 
untruth. The effect of this will be, to lower 
her in his esteem and affection, i. e. to enfeeble 
the activity of his Veneration and Adhesiveness 
towards her ; to decrease the power of his 
Conscientiousness ; making him regard a false- 
hood as a trifle ; to stimulate Secretiveness and 
Imitation ; teaching him how to play off a 
deception, and seek the accomplishment of his 
objects by insincere pretensions ; to weaken 
Cautiousness, by the experience that the evil 
threatened to disobedience, does not follow on 
the heels of the offence ; and to strengthen 



178 PHRENOLOGY 

Firmness in its wilfulness, by the experience 
that it can secure its objects, with impunity. 

If the child is required to form habits, and 
exhibit a deportment, correct and lovely, in 
his intercourse with his brothers and sisters, 
or associates, instead of explaining to him why 
they are correct and amiable, the mother takes 
the same short course to secure her object : 
only, instead of appealing to the Approbative- 
ness of the child, with respect to her approba- 
tion, she gives it a wider range. She assures 
him that " people will not love him, unless his 
conduct to his fellows is such and such:" and 
asks " What will Mr. A. and Mrs. B. and 
Thomas C. think of you ?" The effect of this 
treatment, on the child, can be seen at a glance : 
He draws the conclusion that the rule of right, 
is the opinion of others ; or, at least, that he 
must conform his practice to their opinions ; 
must never dare to be singular : for that, to 
have other persons think unfavourably of him, 
is the greatest calamity that could befal him. 
Such stimulants applied to Approbativeness 
cannot but be deeply injurious. The Intellect 
is not at all enlightened, as to the fact that the 



IN THE FAMILY. 179 

opinions of people in general are of very little 
importance ; being often most grossly erroneous, 
and especially so on moral subjects. Self- 
Esteem, in its proper sphere of activity, — the 
cultivation of proper self-respect and personal 
dignity and independence, — is quite overtopped 
by the hot-bed culture of its next neighbor 
Approbativeness : and a spirit, both vain and 
servile is generated. 

The Sentiment of Approbativeness is mis- 
educated also, in the injudicious, and often 
excessive administration of praise. Praise is 
the proper aliment of this feeling ; but as is the 
case with the body, an aliment proper in itself, 
may be improperly imparted, as regards time, 
and degree, and the circumstances of the system 
which receives it. If praise be excessive, it 
becomes Flattery ; and where this is bestowed 
it generates disease in the feeling ; which in 
that case, becomes Vanity. To render the 
child susceptible of encouragement, the love 
of Approbation is implanted* in him ; and to 
afford him encouragement, the approbation he 
desires is to be bestowed on him, in proper 



180 PHRENOLOGY 

measure. But is it in fact thus imparted ? 
By no means. 

A child in whom this feeling is naturally- 
strong, and especially if it be not sufficiently 
controlled, will be vain. Many persons would 
err, in their analysis of the motives by which 
such a child was influenced in his actions. 
They would consider him actuated by affection 
and filial respect (Adhesiveness and Veneration) 
when, in reality, the ruling motive was Appro- 
bativeness, He is prompt, willing, officious, 
perhaps ; but it is that he may be praised, 
thought to be talented or benevolent, and thus 
may secure praise. If it be imparted, you 
increase the diligence and zeal of the young 
aspirant for popularity : for you appeal to 
Approbativeness, and thus increase its energy. 
" Flattery" says Mr. Levison,* " is the com- 
mon language of the nursery and the parlor ; 
and also the stimulus which is applied in tuition, 
at meals, and in the play-ground ; and however 
diversified as regards the mode of expression, 
its specific object is the same. The child is 

* Mental Culture, p. 123. 



IN THE FAMILY. 181 

soothed by it, and when in the company of its 
parents, is constrained in its manners by the 
mechanical and artificial usages of etiquette ; 
and, under the name of emulation, its desire 
of applause is made the incentive for out- 
stripping others ; and the source of contention 
and ill-will during the hours of relaxation. If 
we analyse the motives of those who thus 
appeal to this powerful feeling, we shall find 
that, in every instance, they do so for the 
purpose of facilitating the otherwise laborious 
task of moral culture. A servant, for example, 
observes that the dear infant is easily moved 
and acted upon by flattery : hence to avoid a 
temporary inconvenience, she administers an 
over dose ; without reflecting that it is like an 
opiate, and that we must continue to increase 
the dose, or else the anodyne effect will not, 
ultimately, be obtained. How common a 
practice it is for parents to attempt to induce a 
child to behave itself properly whilst in the 
parlor by assuring it that rude and vulgar 
children only, speak what they think, and ask 
for what they want : but that young gentlemen 
and ladies should know better. Is not this 
15 



182 PHRENOLOGY 

making an appeal to Love of Approbation ? 
And to what can we attribute this election of 
an animal motive, if we reject the notion that 
it originates in a desire to save trouble." * * * 
" But such is the harmony of the moral gov- 
ernment of God, that in most instances, the 
designs of parents and instructors are defeated : 
and they create for themselves infinitely more 
trouble in the end, than they would have had, 
if the moral qualities had been early and 
judiciously worked upon." 

There are other appeals to this Sentiment, 
such as need only to be named, to insure for 
them the reprobation of intelligent and reflecting 
persons. How often do we hear the child, — 
yes, even the infant, — receive lessons on the 
subject of dress, which cannot fail to excite a 
love of it, as a means of commanding admira- 
tion ! Such lessons are all allusions to " pretty 
new frocks," and " pretty red shoes." Such, 
also, are the comparisons or contrasts drawn 
between the clothes of the child, and those of 
its little friends and acquaintance : " Here is 
his beautiful cap and feathers ! George C. 
hasn't got such a cap as my darling: — no, 



IN THE FAMILY. 183 

brother Henry, you mustn't have it : that is for 
mother's beauty," &c. A course of treatment 
such as this, (and alas ! it is a course of it, to 
which children are subjected,) necessarily as- 
sociates in the mind of the little one, the favor 
of others with personal appearance ; and this, 
in its turn, with external ornament ; and thus 
such ornaments are valued, as conferring claims 
to regard : and this, not only to the total disre- 
gard of lovely moral qualities ; but often to the 
implantation and culture of those which are the 
most despicable. It is to erroneous and false 
impressions, as to the degree of importance 
really belonging to ornament, made by the 
training which this sentiment receives in In- 
fancy and Childhood, that we should ascribe the 
necessity, in youth and maturity, of urging so 
strenuously on the fair portion of our species, 
another " adorning than the plaiting of hair, 
and the wearing of gold, and the putting on of 
apparel ; — the adorning of the hidden man of 
the heart, with that which is not corruptible ; 
— the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, 
which is, in the sight of God, of great price." 
(1 Pet : 3. 3. 4.) They learned, almost in the 



184 PHRENOLOGY 

cradle, that to be approved and admired is the 
" one thing needful ;" and that to be adorned 
is indispensable to the being admired : hence 
the insatiable appetite evinced as early at least 
as the days of Isaiah, for " chains and brace- 
lets, and mufflers, and ear-rings, and changeable 
suits of apparel, and mantles, and wimples, and 
crisping-pins." (Isa : 3. 19. 23.) " Cockle has 
been sown" in the soil ; and can we expect that 
it should produce barley ? 

Another practice, in the training of Approba- 
tiveness, merits a few words of notice. When 
the young subject of education happens to utter 
a sentence which, to the partiality of a mother, 
seems indicative of talent, it is quite common 
for her to treasure it up in memory, and to 
repeat it to her friends in the presence of the 
child. And the feeling is equally cherished by 
a practice, now perhaps, somewhat on the 
decline, of calling the little fellow to make a 
display of his attainments, by repeating to every 
stranger who may call, his hymns, and cate- 
chism, and knowledge of the various school 
studies of his years. All these and many other 
practices, are only so many modes of training 



IN THE FAMILY. 185 

the child to the love of display ; and to believe 
that the use of knowledge is to make a show 
of it, and thus ensure to himself a revenue of 
praise. 

Nor is the excitement of Approbativeness 
confined to Home. It is, indeed, travelling a 
little beyond the range of nursery, or strictly 
domestic training : but we cannot allow the 
opportunity to pass unimproved, of saying that 
the present system of education in schools, is 
such as most injuriously to affect the senti- 
ment of Approbativeness, by keeping it in a 
state of preternatural excitement. The object 
at which all pupils are taught to aim, is not 
excellence, but distinction. The system of 
place-taking in classes, and also, that of distri- 
buting medals as marks of distinction, have a 
tendency to goad it into a state of feverish ex- 
citement ; and to erect, in the scholar's mind, 
an erroneous standard of personal worthiness ; 
as well as to generate, in the minds of class- 
mates and school-fellows, the feelings of envy 
and aversion. 

Having considered now the actual training 
given to the sentiment of Approbativeness, it 
15* 



186 PHRENOLOGY 

may not be improper to advert to the effects 
of it, on the present and future character of the 
child. That effect, we have no scruple in 
saying, must be injurious ; and we will instance 
some of the injuries it inflicts. 

The first injury done is, the prevention, or 
the destruction of transparency and simplici- 
ty °f character, in the pupil. By the training 
given to this faculty, the child is not taught to 
6e; but only to appear, such as he ought. 
Nor is it truly such as he ought to appear, at 
which he is taught to aim, so much as it is, to 
be such as others will approve : and as they 
will sometimes approve, what they ought not, 
he will learn, in such cases, to aim at what is 
improper : but of this, more afterwards. The 
obedience of a child, whose Love of Approba- 
tion is trained as above described, will be only 
superficial ; not cordial and sincere. He acts 
a part, and does not act himself : and the part 
which he does act, when he obeys an unpleas- 
ant command, he assumes from a selfish 
motive. He has been taught to feel that 
expressions of endearment, and the frequent 
administration of praise ( or in other words, 



IN THE FAMILY. 187 

incessant flattery) are essential to his happi- 
ness, and almost to his existence ; and as 
these can be secured by some outward act, 
that act is performed. But it is, after all, not an 
act of obedience ; for it is not performed from 
a sense of duty, which is essential to true 
obedience ; but from the desire of self-gratifica- 
tion : the hope of securing* the praise which 
follows the performance of the act. From a 
similar motive he complies with the wishes of 
his parents, when they present him with the 
motive, that others will not think well of him 
if he shall refuse compliance. He loves their 
good opinion ; he can secure it by compliance 
with the wishes of parents and friends, in the 
case in hand 5 he must lose their favour if non- 
compliant; he therefore yields, — not because 
it is right and duty \cf which he is urged; not 
because parents can justly claim his obedience, 
but because his own gratification will be, 
thereby, promoted. Yet he passes for an 
obedient child : is praised for obedience : he 
knows that credit is given him for obedience, 
and a regard for duty ; and knows also that he 
is not actuated by the motives ascribed to him ; 



188 PHRENOLOGY 

but by others, which are not suspected : who 
then can fail to see that he learns duplicity and 
deceit, from the training given to his Approba- 
tiveness ? or which is the same thing, that the 
education this feeling receives, is unfriendly to 
simplicity of character ? 

The subject of the education we have des- 
cribed, is injured, also, in another respect: 
There is set before him a false standard of 
morality ; — a false rule of duty. He is taught, 
it will be remembered, that his conduct must 
be regulated by the opinion of others ; and in 
connexion with this, he is, by precept, taught, 
that his course is to be a good and a right one : 
how natural then, is the conclusion to which 
he comes, that the opinion of others is the 
rule of right. This conclusion, from the above 
premises, is as irresistible as the mathematical 
axiom, that " things equal to the same thing, 
are equal to one another." But the learner is 
afterwards undeceived ; and finds that while 
the opinions of men fluctuate, and are uncer- 
tain, the principles of morality are immutable : 
yet, such is the ascendancy over his conduct, 
that the opinion of others has acquired, that he 



IN THE FAMILY. 189 

cannot, — dares not — be singular, even in a case 
of plain moral duty, if those, whose good 
opinion he desires to secure, are arrayed on the 
opposite side ; — if the performance of duty shall 
subject him to the loss of their favor, and es- 
pecially, if it shall subject him to their raillery, 
ridicule, displeasure, or contempt. An illus- 
tration will bring this case completely before 
the mind of the reader. To become religious, 
is a plain moral duty, obligatory on every in- 
telligent moral being. But the present training 
to which Approbativeness is subjected, presents 
powerful and almost insuperable obstacles to 
the performance of it. The frown, or laugh? 
or sneer of such as hate religion, (things which 
must be encountered) are more formidable to a 
mis-educated Approbativeness, than prisons, 
and fetters, and the stake would be, to a pro- 
perly enlightened and subjugated Cautiousness. 
The subject of this morbidly sensitive feeling, 
dares not avow his seriousness, before those 
who will disapprove of it : he trembles to be 
surprised by his irreligious relatives, friends, 
or associates, reading his Bible, or engaged in 
prayer, or attending the inquiry meeting. His 



190 PHRENOLOGY 

mother's early lesson has been alas ! too per- 
fectly learned by him ; " What will people 
think of you ?" and he defers to their opinion, 
when he ought, resolutely, to set it at nought. 
The great Founder of our Religion perfectly 
understood the magnitude of the obstacle in the 
way to heaven, presented by a perverted Ap- 
probativeness, when he said, to certain persons 
of his own day, " How can ye believe, who 
receive honor one of another, and seek not the 
honor which cometh from God only ?" (John, 
5. 44.) 

The right training of this faculty would con- 
sist in addressing it through an enlightened 
Intellect; and addressing it not alone, or in 
connexion with the lower feelings ; but in 
connexion with the Moral Sentiments, — with 
Veneration and Conscientiousness : — thus as- 
sociated, the appeals to it can scarcely be too 
frequent, or too powerful. That we may be 
understood, when we speak of addressing Ap- 
probativeness through an enlightened Intellect, 
and in connexion with the higher sentiments, we 
will explain. Inform him, then, that the 
authoritative rule of duty is the will of God : — 



IN THE FAMILY. 191 

that all He enjoins is good in itself, and good 
in its tendency, and reasonable : and not only 
affirm this, but so explain it as that he shall 
himself see that it is so. Remind him of the 
declaration of holy writ, that it is the favor of 
God which is life, and "His loving kindness" 
or approbation, " which is better than life ;" 
and show him that to secure that is the great 
end of existence :— that that must be secured, 
at every risk, and at every cost : and that if he 
would resolutely determine to secure the divine 
favor, he must prepare, sometimes, to forego 
the favor of men, and even to endure their 
ridicule and enmity. Expatiate on the great- 
ness, and goodness of the character of God, — 
and on the value of his favor, in contrast with 
the indifference of the favor of men ; also on 
the insignificance of the displeasure of man, in 
comparison with the awfulness of His/ Animate 
him to bear present contempt from the irreligi- 
ous, for doing his duty, by presenting before 
him the exalted satisfaction which will result 
from hearing him say, at last, " Well done, 
good and faithful servant." By this course 
Approbativeness is made to operate in the 



192 PHRENOLOGY 

highest sphere of its activity, viz : with 
reference to the favor or approbation of God ; 
and is led, by supremely seeking the honor 
which cometh from God, to regard, no further, 
the approbation of fellow creatures, than it can 
be secured by obedience to His will. This 
education of the feeling of Approbativeness 
accords both with the nature of man, and with 
the will of God. It treats the sentiment 
according to its nature, as a mere feeling, and 
one not of the highest order, and not, therefore, 
itself entitled to dominion. But it associates it 
in its activity with the very highest feelings of 
our nature : — causes it to act, not blindly, but 
under the illumination of Intellect, and thus to 
bring its potent influence to bear on the 
ennobling, and dignifying, and blessing its 
possessor. Such an education of Approbative- 
ness aims not at the impossibility of annihilating 
an innate faculty ; but consists in imparting to 
its activity a right direction, in associating it 
with the best society in its activity, in present- 
ing it to its proper control. Thus directed, 
thus associated, thus stimulated, and thus con- 
trolled, the possessor of the feeling, however 



IN THE FAMILY. 193 

strong, will be sensitive, indeed, to the opinions 
of others, and desire to meet with their appro- 
bation ; but will feel that there is a higher 
object of pursuit than that ; and that the 
controlling principle of action must be, the 
desire of " the honor which cometh from God 
only." 

The false morality which is induced by the 
training actually given to Approbativeness 
merits some further remark. In the nursery 
this is often manifest to a close observer. The 
faculty as we have seen is often there stimulat- 
ed ; and the effect of this is, that the stimulated 
faculty requires to be pampered ; and the 
ingenuity of the young subject of education 
often exhibits itself, in his measures to secure 
the favorite food of the morbid feeling in 
question. Hence we sometimes see such a 
child even officiously attentive, to discover and 
anticipate its parents' wants and wishes :— 
fetching unbidden, what may be wanted ; and 
picking up what may have accidentally fallen, 
—a spool of cotton, a pair of scissors, or a 
thimble : — and this, not for the sake of doing 
good, or being useful ; but merely that you 
16 



194 PHRENOLOGY 

may bestow the coveted praise. You may 
without difficulty, obtain the proof of this : — 
Express simple thanks, in a tone of coldness 
and indifference, and observe, without seeming 
to do so, the effects. In an officious child there 
will be evident disappointment, and uneasiness. 
She expected a compliment, on her dexterity, 
or foresight, or usefulness, in helping her 
mother ; — to be called by some specially 
endearing epithet, or to be told she was grow- 
ing quite a little woman. Withhold this, and 
you cut the sinews of her activity : whereas, 
if she were really what she desires to appear, — 
actuated by affection and filial respect : — were 
her conduct prompted by the activity of Adhe- 
siveness and Veneration, the very presentation 
of simple thanks, would have been wholly un- 
expected, and undesired ; and so far from 
being undervalued, would be considered more 
than a sufficient reward. Thus the morality 
which Approbativeness originates is a false 
morality. 

But, furthermore, it is a morality which can- 
not be relied on. At home, and while the 
individual is exposed only good to influences, 



IN THE FAMILY. 195 

he may be every thing which could be desired, 
so far as external conduct is concerned ; but if 
he be such, under the influence of " Approba- 
tiveness," it will be because any other conduct 
would expose him to censure. Nothing would 
be approved by those around him, but what is 
reputable and praiseworthy ; and desiring their 
approbation, his conduct is reputable and praise- 
worthy also. But suppose his circumstances 
to be changed ; and that he is removed from 
such a home as we have considered him to 
possess ; — surround him with numerous and 
powerful temptations ; connect him with those 
whose conduct and morals are evil ; and what 
will then be the result ? The ruling principles 
in his character are not changed, by this change 
in his situation and connexions ; and yet his 
conduct may present a widely different, and a 
far less amiable aspect. He is now surrounded 
by those who approve of evil ; and the conduct 
which he practised at home, will expose him 
to censure and ridicule here ; it is little to be 
expected, therefore, that now he will practice 
it : for, if he do, he will incur a penalty which 
he has been taught to regard as the most severe 



196 PHRENOLOGY 

he could suffer — the disapprobation of associates 
and friends. He is still the same character, 
essentially, as before : still desires praise, and 
feels that it is necessary to his happiness. But, 
in this change of circumstances, in order to 
secure praise, and even to avoid censure, he 
must practice evils to which he was before a 
stranger : and being, by the supposition, under 
the controlling influence of Approbativeness, it 
cannot be difficult to foresee what course he 
will pursue : he will yield to temptation. Not 
only so, but the very feeling w T hich, under his 
former circumstances, restrained him from evil, 
and led him to worthy conduct, will prove, 
under his present ones, a most powerful impulse 
to the practice of every evil to which he may 
be solicited. " Consequences like these are 
very frequently seen to follow a youth or child's 
departure from home, to school, or to business : 
and the parents of such a child bewail them as 
their calamities, and afflictions ; and not im- 
probably refer them to the sovereignty and 
inscrutability of God ; whereas, in fact, they 
might read their own sin in their punishment ; 
and learn that they are only reaping the fruits 



IN THE FAMILY. 197 

of seeds which they themselves profusely- 
scattered, and successfully cultivated, when 
they said to the yet guiltless child, in the 
nursery, " What will people think of you ?" 

•Finally, The training which this faculty 
receives, induces insincerity and falsehood. 
The love of praise, when excessive, or when a 
ruling principle, will give a relish for flattery : 
and to a person in whom it exercises dominion, 
flattery, in almost its grossest forms, will be- 
come ere long, not only bearable, but palateable, 
and even pleasant ; — it will be almost necessa- 
ry to his happiness. But such profuse offer- 
ings of its incense can scarcely be expected to 
continue spontaneous : they must be purchased ; 
and to obtain them from others, flattery will be 
offered to them. Thus is formed a pitiful and 
despicable character ; the very opposite of 
sincerity, and frankness, and independence ; — 
a character utterly incompatible with a proper 
degree of self-respect ; and formed by that very 
training which Approbativeness almost univer- 
sally receives ; and the communication of which 
can scarcely be followed by any other than 
these results. 

16* 



198 PHRENOLOGY 

In childhood, too, occasional, and even fre- 
quent, deviations from truth, are consequences 
of the same training. Children who have but 
little Secretiveness, and who have, at the same 
time, a strong sense of right, (Conscientious- 
ness large ) will, under the influence of an 
over active Approbativeness, especially if aided 
by large Cautiousness, (leading to a dread of 
punishment ) utter untruths, to conceal a fault: 
and this, not because they are insensible to the 
evil of falsehood ; but because they love the 
approbation they must forfeit ; and dread the 
censure which the declaration of the truth will 
bring upon them ; and fear the punishment to 
which its utterance may expose them. In 
these children, Self-Esteem has not been so 
cultivated as to make them feel the meanness 
of falsehood ; nor Combativeness so trained as 
to feel its cowardice; nor Conscientiousness so 
trained as to feel its wickedness : — they are the 
slaves of a blind Approbativeness ; and this is 
the true solution of the apparent paradox, of a 
child so constituted, uttering falsehood. 

Let parents, then, beware how they edu- 
cate Approbativeness in their children. Teach 



IN THE FAMILY. 199 

them to estimate human approbation at no more 
than its proper value, and not to idolize it. 
They will then learn that it is often valueless, 
and indeed worse than even that ; then will 
they never sin, in ,. order to secure it. Let 
Conscientiousness, Veneration, and Benevo- 
lence be stimulated, by religious truth, — their 
appropriate aliment ; — that they may over- 
power a too active Approbativeness. Then 
the accusations and reproaches of Conscience 
will be accounted a greater evil than the cen- 
sures of fellow-creatures ; and the loss of 
Divine approbation by equivocation or false- 
hood, will be accounted a vastly greater evil 
than the loss of even a parent's smile, which 
loss might follow from the utterance of 
undisguised truth. And in order to lessen the 
temptation to disguise or equivocation, let the 
censures which parental duty requires should 
be administered, be uttered without needless 
asperity ; and even with studied gentleness : 
remembering that a child with large Approba- 
tiveness, is cut to the quick, by a censure so 
gentle, that one, differently constituted, would 
scarcely feel it ; and that when such a child 



200 PHRENOLOGY 

equivocates, it is, often, only to avoid the an- 
guish he would suffer from a severe rebuke — 
an anguish which, his sense of justice tells 
him, is not merited, by a mere inadvertence or 
indiscretion ; and therefore he dissembles, or 
equivocates, or lies to hide it. 

SELF ESTEEM. 

There are certain characteristics among men 
which distinguish not only man from man ; but 
one race of men from another, and one nation of 
a certain race, from another nation of the same 
race. Among these characteristics, there are 
few, if any more striking, than that which we 
propose now to consider : viz : The feeling 
of Self-Estimation. It is a national character- 
istic ; but not the characteristic of the Ameri- 
can nation. Of this nation, as we have 
already hinted, in our remarks on another 
feeling, the characteristic, if it be proper to 
mention a single one, is Approbativeness : 
while the distinguishing peculiarity of the 
English nation is Self-Esteem. We must not, 
by this remark, be understood to say that there 



IN THE FAMILY. 201 

are not many individuals of these two nations, 
in whom the organs of these faculties are 
found in such relative proportions, as to give to 
the native born American the character of an 
Englishman, and to the Englishman that of an 
American. We mean only that, in the majori- 
ty of Englishmen, there will be found a 
predominance of Self-Esteem ; and in the 
majority of Americans, a similar predominance 
of Approbativeness. There is then less danger, 
in America than in England, that this feeling 
should be excessive ; yet, the individual cases 
are numerous, in which this excess is to be 
seen. 

Wherever it is discovered, the greatest care 
seems indispensable, in its education. Its 
characteristics are, in general, Self-elevation, 
and Self-preference. In particular, it loves 
pre-eminence and claims it ; and if external 
circumstances are such as favor that claim, it 
may be expected to be asserted on all occa- 
sions. No faculty of our nature is more 
likely to run into abuses : and when it is in 
large developement ; and when the accidents of 
rank, station, office, wealth, &c, favor the 



202 PHRENOLOGY 

manifestation, those abuses will almost certain- 
ly be exhibited : viz : pride, self-sufficiency, 
disdain, haughtiness, love of power, tyranny 
where power is possessed ; and, in one word, 
general selfishness. These, however, are its 
abuses in mature life ; but they result from 
very insignificant germs ; and it behoves those 
to whom the business of instruction is commit- 
ted, and especially Mothers, most carefully to 
watch the buddings of the feeling; to retard 
their growth ; and give them a proper direction. 
We have said that the germs of these abuses 
of Self-Esteem are insignificant ; but we mean 
the earliest manifestations of its activity in an 
improper direction, rather than the principle 
from which they arise ; and we apply the 
word " insignificant" to those manifestations, 
in the sense of pitiable and contemptible, rather 
than of unimportant. In the infancy and early 
childhood of such a child, we sometimes feel 
contempt, when we witness the presence of a 
braggadocio spirit, impelling him to the perfor- 
mance of certain little exploits, and then swel- 
ling his bosom with Self-complacency, while 
he struts among his nursery play-fellows, 



IN THE FAMILY. 20$ 

saying, at least by his actions, " There ; do 
that if you can," or issuing his mandates to 
juniors and inferiors, if not to equals and supe- 
riors, with all the consequence of an oriental 
despot. In his little sports, with his brothers 
and sisters, or companions, he will dictate the 
nature of the game, and the mode of conducting 
it ; and will be the arbiter of all disputes which 
may arise in its progress : and the natural lan- 
guage of an excessive Self-Esteem will appear, 
in his language, tone, gait, and look ; the 
simple interpretation of which may be given, 
in a single sentence of holy writ : *' / am ; and 
there is none besides me: " he is "entitled 
to rule: HE has a natural right to be master !" 
To train such a child is among the most 
difficult of duties ; but it is not impossible. In 
performing it properly, we must turn to first 
principles ; and endeavour to keep them con- 
stantly before us. Again, therefore, do we 
quote one of our fundamental principles, in its 
application to this case ; — As the feeling in 
question is an animal one, though not one of 
the lowest of those feelings, it must be enfeebled 
in order to its proper training ; and to enfeeble 



204 PHRENOLOGY 

it, pains must be taken to keep it still. It must 
be educated to obedience, by stimulating other, 
and nobler faculties to a growth which shall, if 
possible, overpower it; and if not, which shall 
considerably modify, and control it. Two 
things appear of vital importance, in the training 
of a vigorous Self-Esteem. First, It must not 
be fed: Secondly, It must not be mortified. 

First. It will be highly improper to feed, or 
pamper this feeling. A desire to avoid, for the 
time, the disagreeable consequences of its 
activity, might prompt to this course of con] 
duct; but the relief is only temporary, even 
if obtained ; and that is by no means certain : 
for so arrogant is the activity of Self-Esteem, 
that it will scarcely recognize a concession, as 
such, when it is made ; but will receive it as 
the mere recognition of his right ; and conceive 
that, therefore, no obligation is conferred ; and 
of course none need be acknowledged. But if 
it be otherwise, and by concession you con- 
ciliate the little monarch, it is only for a 
time : ere long you must yield again ; and 
the next claim he makes, will be a larger 
one ; for animal feelings are, in their nature, 



IN THE FAMILY. 205 

insatiable ; and make large demands, in propor- 
tion as those demands are gratified. If the 
conduct of such a child merits praise, in any 
case, it must be bestowed with extreme caution : 
not that, (with Approbativeness moderate) it 
would so gratify the appetite for praise, as to 
do it injury; but because it is scarcely possible 
for praise to be bestowed, without increasing 
the high opinion the child already possesses, of 
himself. He regards it as due to him ; — that 
he deserves it : and that, of course, he must 
really be, what he always before, thought he 
was ; — the solus and the totus /—the ALONE, 
and the WHOLE. It is ruinous to such a child 
to make appeals to his Self-Esteem, or Pride, 
in order to incite him to action in any direction. 
It may succeed, indeed, in accomplishing your 
present object ; but you must afterwards pay 
the penalty of your transgression of one of the 
laws of your child's nature:-— you have strength- 
ened his Self-Esteem, by affording it a stimulus ; 
and the difficulties with which you have for- 
merly met, in managing him, will be augmented 
in future cases ; for your antagonist has been 
strengthened by yourself. It is best to en- 
17 



206 PHRENOLOGY 

feeble Self-Esteem, by indirect means ; even 
when you present remedies for its excessive 
activity, in addresses to the Moral Sentiments, 
through the Intellect. The most powerful 
means to subdue, or to control the too great 
activity of this feeling, are, certainly, moral 
considerations ; but it is dangerous to present 
these, nakedly and abruptly. If you would 
moderate the child's arrogance, even by present- 
ing to him the exclusive claims of Jehovah 
to universal deference, choose wisely your 
time for doing so ; and, not less wisely, the 
mode. Do it not when his Self-Esteern is 
rampant in activity, and claiming to subdue all 
things to itself : but when it is the sleeping 
lion. Do it not by alleging his natural tenden- 
cy to claim deference, and opposing to his 
claims, those of the Almighty : this will in- 
stantly excite Combativeness, in aid of Self- 
Esteem ; and give you two powerful feelings, 
instead of one, to contend against. It will, 
moreover, excite a feeling of aversion to God, 
which it will be next to impossible to eradicate : 
and thus, still further, augment your difficulty. 
Instead of this, Approach the feeling you 



IN THE FAMILY. 207 

would train, through the Intellect : discourse 
on the perfections of the Divine Character in 
general ; and make no personal applications ; 
or if you do, make them not with reference to 
him ; or at least, not to the strong and danger- 
ous point in his character, which you desire to 
influence. Let your applications, in certain 
cases, lead him to make them in others ; and 
lead him cautiously towards his own. When 
he has discerned, and begins to feel the right 
of the Almighty to govern, and that His will is 
supreme law, accord with him ; declare your 
perception of his absolute authority over you, 
and yours. You may show, also, that the 
aknowledgement of this, is not degrading to 
you, as an intelligent and moral being \ because 
the will of God is perfectly wise, and just, 
and benevolent ; and hence, that duty and 
interest unite, in requiring of you obedience. 
If your child has, from infancy, learned aright, 
that he owes you subjection and deference, he 
cannot now fail to infer that he owes it to a 
greater than you : he will not fail to see that, as 
the greater includes the less, since he owes 
obedience to the lower, much more to the 



208 PHRENOLOGY 

higher authority. And his submission will be 
voluntary, too : not forced, or constrained : he 
will feel that he submits, and yet is not degraded 
by submission : he is swayed by Intellect, and 
the Moral Sentiments. This point once gained, 
you have a powerful instrument in your hand : 
one of the strongest feelings in the nature of 
such a child is thus converted, or rendered 
capable of being converted, into a motive to 
influence him for good. Now you may appeal 
to Self-Esteem, and render it subservient to 
moral purposes : thus, " You perceive that you 
are accountable to God, as a moral and intelli- 
gent being ; it becomes you, in this character, 
to employ all your talents, faculties, and oppor- 
tunities, in accordance with his will, and for 
the purpose for which he bestowed them." 
His sense of propriety, and fitness ; — of what 
is due to himself, will assent to this ; and he 
may be expected to govern himself accordingly* 
Secondly, It will be equally injurious to 
attempt to mortify the feeling of Self-Esteem. 
This may be done with the best intentions ; 
but the purity of the motives, changes not the 
tendency of the action, to which it gives birth. 



IX THE FAMILY. 209 

It will not accomplish the object intended; 
which is, the decrease of the activity and energy 
of the feeling ; for, according to our first 
principles, being an animal feeling, it is not 
only not enfeebled, but it is actually invigorated, 
by attempts, so made, to weaken it. There is 
but one way to weaken it, and that is, to render 
it as nearly as possible inactive ; but the 
attempt to mortify it, and thus punish its 
activity, excites it directly ; and not so only, 
but awakens Combativeness and Firmness to 
activity, which lend their power to increase its 
energy : and you will thus have a threefold 
cord, instead of a single one, to break. But 
this is not all : Mortifications of Self-Esteem 
being designed, primarily, to give pain, are 
seldom attempted under the guidance of Con- 
scientiousness and Benevolence : the inquiries 
be not made " Is it right?" "Is it kind?" 
but only, will it mortify (i. e. pain) a too 
energetic and active principle, in the child ? If 
this is answered affirmatively, the measure is 
adopted, without further investigation of its 
probable results. Accordingly, it is not im- 
probable that some phvsical defect in the child, 
17* 



210 PHRENOLOGY 

— mental or bodily, is seized on as the instru- 
ment of torture, or mortification : perhaps the 
child is lame, or has a cast in his eye, or is 
homely in features, or is the subject of some 
other peculiarity wholly beyond his power to 
prevent or to remedy. If he is taunted with 
this, or even reminded of it, the effects must be 
injurious ; deeply, and almost hopelessly so. 
He, perhaps, has good sense sufficient to per- 
ceive that his torturers really possess an 
advantage over him, in the case in hand ; but 
this augments the evil, instead of decreasing it. 
It not only, as in the former case, enlists Com- 
bativeness and Firmness, in support of Self- 
Esteem ; but other, and by no means feebler 
feelings also. " True," says the injured child, 
"lam ugly ; I have a club foot ; I do squint ; 
but am I to be blamed for that ? If I had formed 
myself I should not have chosen these deform- 
ities ; I would gladly be free from them." He 
is indignant (Combativeness and Self-Esteem 
active) at the flagrant injustice of the reproach 
he suffers ; (Conscientiousness engaged,) and, 
not improbably, he will meditate some terrible 
revenge (Destructiveness awakened,) on the 



IN THE FAMILY. 211 

authors of his misery. Now, the tendency of 
all these active and powerful feelings is, to 
maintain the activity, and increase the power of 
Self-Esteem ; and especially is this the case 
with Conscientiousness : this teaches him that 
he is injured — wronged — in the treatment he 
receives ; — that " he does well to be angry ;" 
that the offenders deserve punishment ; and that 
he is right in inflicting it ; and, therefore, right 
in devising it. Since, then, the attempts to 
mortify Self-Esteem are productive of these 
consequences ; — since such attempts are both 
injurious, by strengthening the Sentiment, and 
demoralizing, by generating some of the dark- 
est, and at the same time, most powerful feel- 
ings of our nature, it is needless to spend more 
time in proving bur position, that it should not 
be mortified. We will say a few words, as to 
the use which may be made of it, in training 
some other faculties ; and leave the subject to 
the reflections of the reader. 

We have said, in a preceding page, that 
Self-Esteem should rarely be appealed to, and 
never, except in connexion with the Moral 



212 PHRENOLOGY 

Sentiments : and nothing we shall now say is 
intended to conflict with that opinion. But in 
connexion with those Sentiments, such appeals 
may be made, not only with safety, but with 
advantage. The tendency of Self-Esteem is 
to inspire confidence in our own powers ; — to 
impart the feeling that what others have done, 
we are capable of performing. A child with 
large and active Self-Esteem rarely, and indeed 
almost never, feels that there is anything which 
he could not do, if he pleased. It is a valuable 
element, in character, therefore ; for without it, 
difficulties would be dreaded ; and the con- 
quest over them would rarely be achieved. 
Persons with decidedly small Self-Esteem 
seldom accomplish much ; whatever may be 
their abilities ; for they have not the requisite 
confidence, to undertake the conquest of diffi- 
culties : and if, in any case, they are success- 
ful, and even if such cases are numerous, 
whoever else may have foreseen this result, 
they did not : and if no one else is surprised at 
their success, they are, themselves, almost 
astonished at it. 



IN THE FAMILY. 213 

The reluctance to undertakeanything difficult 
of accomplishment, may, however, be found in 
connexion with large Self-Esteem; but it results, 
in such cases, from an inactive temperament, or 
from small Combativeness or small Hope. Sup- 
pose a child thus organized ; and by an appeal 
to Self-Esteem, in connexion with the Moral 
Sentiments, you may excite Combativeness and 
Hope, and overcome the tendency to inaction, 
which a sluggish temperament will induce. It 
should be said to such a child, " You are con- 
scious, that if you choose to exert the powers 
God has given you, you can attain to respecta- 
bility, at least, if not to eminence : but you 
dread the endurance of the labor you must 
perform, in order to attain either. Now, since 
you are conscious of possessing the requisite 
ability, your guilt will be the greater for that 
consciousness, if you fail." This appeal will 
not only stimulate Self-Esteem and Combative- 
ness, and put them in operation in a right 
direction ; but will also, by exciting Firmness 
in the same cause, be likely to give permanency 
to the activity of the others, in the direction in 
which they are made to operate. A few such 



214 PHRENOLOGY 

lessons will teach the child by experience, the 
sober truth of the poet's language. 

" The wise and prudent conquer difficulties 
By daring to attempt them. Sloth and Folly 
Shiver and shrink, at sight of toil and danger ; 
And make the impossibility they fear^ 

Rowe. 

The presence of a large and powerful Self- 
Esteem may sometimes be found, in connexion 
with other organs large and active ; and hence 
may present difficulty, to an unskilful hand, in 
training it; though to a thorough and philoso- 
phical phrenologist, no such difficulty would 
appear. There is present to the writer's mind 
at this moment, such a case. A girl, between 
eleven and twelve years of age, residing under 
the roof, and receiving the instructions of a 
benevolent and intelligent lady, presents to her 
teacher and benefactress, considerable diffi- 
culty in managing her. The lady is a 
believer in our Science ; but not yet, a thorough 
and well instructed phrenologist ; and desired 
some hints, if they could be given her, relative 
to the best and most philosophical mode of 



IN THE FAMILY. 215 

treatment in the case ; and she accordingly 
introduced the child to the writer. Self-Esteem 
is rather unusually large in her head, especially 
for a girl; and the head itself is large, but the 
temperament not remarkably active. In con- 
nexion with large Self-Esteem, are found here, 
large Firmness, and Combativeness ; and these, 
under the treatment the child has received, 
have increased the trouble of the Instructress. 
But there are, also, large Conscientiousness 
and Reverence ; and also, quite full Adhesive- 
ness : these have not been made a right use of, 
in the education of this child. The instructress 
herself has large and sharp Combativeness ; 
which is, therefore, very active ; and the more 
so from her temperament being favorable to 
activity. It can be easily foreseen that these 
characters are not so cast, as to move along to- 
gether pleasantly; unless the lights of Phrenolo- 
gy are shed on their path. The temperament of 
the pupil not being very active, it will not be 
surprising if her progress in her studies be not 
very rapid ; especially since there is, in her, 
more reflective, than perceptive intellect. Now 
with this slowness to acquire knowledge, (in 



216 PHRENOLOGY 

the common acceptation of that term) in the 
pupil, the active temperament of the teacher 
cannot sympathize ; and moreover it pains her 
Approbativeness, inasmuch as her reputation is 
connected with the pupil's progress. By this 
means her Combativeness is roused, and she 
determines to " make" the pupil learn ; and to 
accomplish this, resorts sometimes, to corporal 
punishment. But it is of no use : the child 
can learn, but in certain cases, will not. 

But the case is explicable, and the evil can be 
remedied. The explication is the following. 
First, the tendency of this child's mind is great- 
er towards reflection, than towards acquisition; 
whereas, what is demanded of her is acquisition, 
rather than reflection. Next, her slowness to 
acquire is not sufficiently borne in mind by her 
teacher; (herself quick of perception) and 
hence she receives censure in a degree, in 
which it is not merited. She is sensible of 
this ; and Conscientiousness feels that she is 
dealt unjustly by : — this rouses Combativeness 
in her mind, to greater activity ; though it was 
before awakened, by the active Combativeness 
of her teacher. Conscientiousness, making 



IN THE FAMILY* 217 

her feel that her teacher does her wrong, rouses 
Firmness in aid of Combativeness, to oppose 
this wrong; and this works with greater 
energy, in consequence of the activity of 
wounded Self-Esteem ; which feels that she 
has been degraded, by subjection to corporal 
punishment. No wonder that, under such 
circumstances, she is indocile. Of explication 
of this case, the above may be sufficient. 

The remedy for the evil is the following ; 
and it accords with the treatment and education 
of the faculty, given above : — Recognize her as 
entitled to respect, by abstaining from every- 
thing tending to degrade her : i. e. by no means 
mortify her Self-Esteem. She has reasoning, 
rather than perceptive intellect ; address it ; and 
through it, her large Conscientiousness. Ex- 
plain to her that though she has not a strong 
tendency io acquire knowledge, yet, its acquisi- 
tion is a duty, and one the performance of 
which, sometimes requires that we do violence 
to our preferences. Appeal to her conscious- 
ness that she can do what is required of her, 
if she will : show her that it is required of her, 
under a sense of duty, on the part of her 
18 



218 PHRENOLOGY 

teachers ; and not that they desire to thwart 
her will, or accomplish their own ; and express 
the conviction that her sense of duty, and her 
love to her friends, and her self respect will, 
unitedly, constrain her to resolve that she will 
make greater exertions to meet the wishes of 
others, and do her duty, both to them, and to 
God. Thus will she feel that she is not 
degraded ; but treated respectfully and rational- 
ly : and it is more than probable that, after a 
while, she will forgive the injuries done to her 
by the former mode of treatment ; and feel the 
kindliness of affectionate respect, instead of the 
glowings of stubborn wilfulness. By this 
course no danger is incurred of compromiting 
the dignity which belongs to the station of 
teacher and guardian ; indeed, there is a truer 
exhibition of dignity in this case, than there 
would be, in resolving to secure a blind and 
feigned obedience, by the application of brute 
force to the mere corporal feelings of an in- 
telligent being: for such a being soon dis- 
cerns whether the springs of her conduct 
are understood by those who control her ; and 



IN THE FAMILY. 219 

recognizes dignity in that intelligence, and will 
respect it. 

MARVELLOUSNESS OR WONDER. 

That there is such a feeling as this in human 
nature, can scarcely be questioned by any one 
who has carefully observed men ; or who is 
familiar with the history of his species. It is 
the tendency to credit, as real or true, what 
has not been and cannot be, submitted to the 
examination of the senses; and, moreover, what 
is not comprehensible by the mind in its 
present imperfect state. A little reflection will 
convince us of the wisdom of imparting to man 
such a feeling or tendency ; and even its indis- 
pensableness, in order to adapt him to that 
remedial system of morality and religion which 
is presented to him in the volume of Inspiration. 
But for the possession of this faculty, how little 
more than the brute creation, would man 
know. It is not, indeed, this faculty which 
cognizes or knoivs ; but it is yet, a faculty, 
the excitement of which impels the perceptive 
faculties to acquire knowledge; and the reflective 



220 PHRENOLOGY 

ones to reason on the knowledge acquired : 
and moreover, from the belief, on proper 
authority, of what is, it gives birth to active 
speculations as to what may be. But it is a 
faculty really indispensable to man, in his 
present condition ; for without it he would be 
incapable, altogether, of religious faith. Such 
" faith is the realization of things hoped for ; 
the confident expectation of things not seen : " 
i. e. not submitted to the evidence of the senses ; 
nor capable of appreciation by them. Now, 
how true soever these things may be, man 
could never be required to believe them, w r ere 
he incapable of so doing : and incapable he 
would be, since they are unappreciable by the 
senses, unless there were given to him a 
faculty to believe that of which his senses 
could give him no knowledge ; that of which 
he has, and can have, in the present state, no 
experience ; and which is altogether beyond 
his comprehension. These are the truths 
which Revelation brings to his notice ; such as 
the endlessness of our being; a future judge- 
ment ; the existence of angels and separate 
spirits; the mysterious person of Christ, &c. &c. 



IX THE FAMILY. 221 

In these truths faith is declared to be indispen- 
sable; and it is the possession by man, of the 
sentiment of Marvellousness, which capacitates 
him to exercise it. 

But we have here to do principally with its 
education. Its existence and activity are early 
evinced, in most children, by the eagerness 
with which they listen to narratives of whatever 
is new, surprising, and wonderful. Not unfre- 
quently the narrators will transcend the bounds 
of truth in their narrations ; but, though the 
little auditor may be informed that certain 
portions of what he hears, are not true, but 
are mere embellishments ; he, yet, can scarcely 
endure to deprive them of the relish with which 
their miraculousness invests them ; and thus 
proves that, if he had not been admonished, he 
would have believed them, notwithstanding 
their extravagance ; and perhaps, impossibility. 
Injudicious parents, domestics, and associates, 
are pleased with the excitement of this faculty 
in others ; and hence, carry it to improper and 
criminal lengths, by the narration to children 
of supernatural stories, of fairies, witches, 
ghosts, &c. This cannot be too severely 
18* 



222 PHRENOLOGY 

reprehended ; it is fraught with consequences 
always to be deprecated; often deeply injurious; 
and sometimes calamitous, and even terrible. 
It is a feeling strong enough, in almost all chil- 
dren ; and if one may, now and then, be found, 
in whom it is otherwise, sufficient stimulus can 
be found in the presentation of mysterious 
truths ; without resorting to fictions. Many 
have been the cases of persons who have ar- 
rived at mature age — yes, at middle life, and 
perhaps beyond it, — who have not overcome 
perfectly, the injuries they sustained in child- 
hood, from these nonsensical tales of the 
Nursery : and this, though they possessed 
naturally vigorous understandings ; and those 
understandings had been carefully cultivated. 
It is to the activity of this sentiment that is 
to be attributed the belief in omens, signs, 
lucky and unlucky days, dreams, &c, and to 
the combined activity of this and Cautiousness, 
the undefinable dread which some persons suf- 
fer, of darkness, burial grounds, the chamber 
and bed of death, and the mental aberrations of 
the delirious, or the permanently insane. In 
both these cases Intellect may be supposed to 



IN THE FAMILY. 223 

be unenlightened ; but it is not always so : true, 
the intellect ivas unenlightened when these 
feelings acquired the dominion ; and having 
acquired and for some time retained the com- 
mand, it is with great difficulty surrendered ; 
even after the understanding is convinced that 
the terrors are destitute of reasonable founda- 
tion. 

There is another, and less important effect of 
the too great activity of this feeling, which it 
may be proper here to notice ; viz: a desire to 
excite it to activity in others. A child will 
sometimes adorn and embellish a very simple 
story, or a very common-place occurrence, by 
annexing certain fictitious appendages to it, or 
using some extravagant expressions respecting 
it ; and this, not with the intention to deceive; 
but only to excite surprise. In such cases, it 
is the most likely mode of correcting the evil, to 
avoid expressions of surprise when you hear 
the wonderful statements ; and proceed to sub- 
ject them, in a good tempered way, to the 
examination of reason ; and when they are 
found not to accord with reason and fact, to 
admonish the child, still in a half-playful man- 



224 PHRENOLOGY 

ner, to be more careful how he expresses him- 
self in future. The absence of strict gravity 
and seriousness, on the part of the parent, is, 
of course, only permissible on the supposition 
that there is not, on the child's part, any 
intention to deceive. The improper activity 
of this feeling was well corrected, by a mother, 
whose child, after a walk in the fields, returned 
with a few wild flowers in his hand, exclaim- 
ing, " O Mother, there are thousands, and 
thousands of the most beautiful flowers you 
ever saw, in the woods where I have been 
walking : a great deal prettier than these. " 
" Are there, my child," was her reply. " I 
wonder, then, that you did not pick some of 
the prettiest for me ; and that you did not 
bring me a few more. I think I have often 
seen prettier flowers than these; and much 
prettier than any that grow wild in our woods." 
She thus corrected the exceptionable points 
in his address to her, as to the number and 
beauty of the flowers, — topics on which he had 
enlarged, under the influence of excited 
Wonder, and with a view to excite that of his 
Mother, — without censure of its excitement, 



IN THE FAMILY. 225 

or of his expression of it ; and without check- 
ing his ingenuous communicativeness. 

Marvellousness should always be under the 
instruction and guidance of enlightened Intel- 
lect ; or serious and dangerous consequences 
may be expected from its excitement. For 
this reason it should never, in childhood, be 
excited, except by the relation of what com- 
bines Truth, with Novelty. Works of fiction 
should not be read until the Intellect has ac- 
quired a vigor which will prevent the illusions 
and creations of fiction from assuming the 
dominion in the mind ; and thus producing a 
distaste for, and almost a disgust with, the sober 
realities of life. This is especially the case 
with regard to those works of imagination in 
which the sublime predominates over the 
beautiful: and which, by the mysteries which 
pervade them, address themselves, almost ex- 
clusively, to the faculty under consideration. 
In the same manner, the mysterious truths of 
religion need not be presented to the mind of 
the child ; except indeed a few fundamental and 
elementary ones, till the intellect has acquired 
considerable strength. And great care should 



226 PHRENOLOGY 

be taken, that fables and legends, having a 
bearing on religion and the spiritual world, 
should be kept out of sight. Otherwise super- 
stition may be expected to occupy the place of 
religion; and gloom, and perhaps terror, give 
their tinge to the mind, which ought to be, and 
might have been, gilded with the sunshine of 
hope, and confidence, and joy. Evils such as 
these, when once incurred, can scarcely ever 
be cured ; the great object to which our efforts 
should be directed, therefore, is prevention. 
But prevention of what? Not the activity of 
the feeling in question ; this is impossible ; 
prevention of its abuse : and this is best secured 
by watching and guiding its activity, and by 
care that no other than a healthful stimulus be 
ever applied to it. This, of course, includes a 
vigilance which never sleeps, as to what parents 
utter to their children, or in their presence, on 
subjects which might excite the feeling ; but 
especially, (and which is a far more difficult 
task) such a vigilance respecting domestics, 
teachers, associates, and acquaintances of their 
children ; and " though last not least," respect- 
ing the books they read. One ignorant, 



IN THE FAMILY. 227 

superstitious nursery maid, — one teacher, who 
understands no mode of governing, but by fear, 
— one associate or acquaintance, who has been 
subject to the evil influence of such a domestic, 
or such a teacher, — or one book of an impro- 
per character, may inflict an injury that it 
will be impossible, subsequently, to repair. 
In view, then, of the importance and indis- 
pensableness of this feeling to man, as a moral 
being, on the one hand ; and of the dangers to 
which we are exposed, from its excessive, or 
its misdirected activity, on the other, we may, 
in reference to the arduousness of the parent's 
duty in educating it, adopt the language of an 
inspired Apostle, in another case, and say, 
"Who is sufficient for these things ?" But, be 
not discouraged ; a sense of the magnitude and 
importance of a duty, from the obligation to 
perform which we cannot escape, naturally 
tends to produce humility ; and if, in humility, 
we seek from above, the wisdom we need, and, 
at the same time, avail ourselves of the aids to 
acquire it, by which we are surrounded, we 
shall neither seek, nor strive, in vain. 



228 F11REN0L0GY 



HOPE . 

Perhaps some persons would not be willing 
to allow this to be so much a separate faculty 
of the mind, as an act of the whole mind ; and 
a duty, binding on every one to perform. But, 
whatever may have been the opinions, and 
whatever the instructions of writers on mental 
philosophy, relative to it, the painters and 
pourtrayers of Nature — Poets — have recog- 
nized its existence as an innate faculty : and 
here, it is safer to follow these, than our graver 
teachers. Hope is by them considered so truly 
an element of human nature, that it is said to 
" come to all :" i. e. to be innate in each. 
Indeed, we cannot conceive of a Benevolent 
Creator, (designing, of course, the happiness 
of his creatures,) giving existence to rational 
beings, and placing them in a state of probation ; 
and yet leaving them destitute of a faculty 
whereby they may anticipate the experience of 
a higher good than they enjoy. If they hope 
not, they must despair ; and if they despair, 



IN THE FAMILY. 229 

how can they be happy, and how can they 
exert their powers to attain a good, of which 
they have no assurance, and ( upon this 
supposition ) no prospect ? Hope, then, 
must be an innate faculty, in this view of 
the matter. But it is not less evidently such, 
even upon the hypothesis that to hope, is an 
act of the whole mind ; and that it is the duty 
of the individual to perform it. If it be 
my duty to perform an act, I must be so en- 
dowed as to capacitate me to perform it ; and, 
as no act can be performed without instruments, 
I must be in possession of the necessary instru- 
ments to enable me to hope, if to hope be my 
duty. And if to hope is a different act of the 
mind, from to reason, the instrument of the one 
act, must be different from the instrument of the 
other : if then I am endowed with the instru- 
ment by which I perform the act of reasoning 
— i. e. if it be innate, — I must, also, be 
endowed with the instrument by which I per- 
form the act of hoping : i. e. that instrument 
must be innate also. This is the doctrine of 
Phrenology. Accordingly we find the faculty 
experienced, in a greater or less degree, by all 
19 



230 PHRENOLOGY 

persons, whatever their station, possessions, or 
intellectual endowments and attainments. No 
one can be found who does not hope at some 
times, and for some things. 

Hope is one among the most active of the 
feelings of childhood and youth ; it is also 
one of the most important, and one of which 
great use may be made, in the work of educa- 
tion, and to the training of which considerable 
attention should be given. It is this which 
prevents us from being overwhelmed by the 
disappointments with which we meet ; and in 
connexion with other faculties, enables us to 
overcome the obstacles we have to encounter, 
in climbing the rugged steeps of knowledge, to 
which we are conducted. But while the sun- 
shine of Hope renders, if not beautiful, yet 
bearable, the desert we tread ; — while its influ- 
ence is so powerful in stimulating us to attempt, 
and we may say enabling us to achieve, the 
conquest of difficulties, it is liable to numerous 
errors : for it is but a feeling, and, as such, is 
as blind, as the merest animal propensity. 
Care must be taken that it never get loose from 
the guidance of the understanding, or it will 



IN THE FAMILY. 231 

lead to the most unfounded expectations ; and 
thus sow the seeds of painful disappointments: 
— it will lead us to forego substantial happiness, 
in the vain attempt to grasp that which is 
shadowy and unreal. Hope should be trained 
in connexion with Eventuality : the child 
should be informed largely of cases, both of 
the disappointment of extravagant expectations, 
and of the success of vigorous and wisely 
directed efforts to conquer difficulty, and sur- 
mount obstacles. He should be shown the 
causes of failure, where failures have been made, 
and the causes of success, where the results 
have been favorable. By this means the 
reflecting faculties are indirectly cultivated, in 
connexion with the direct training of Hope ; 
and moreover, the child learns, by definite 
examples, what is meant by " wisely directed 
efforts to acquire knowledge, &c." and what 
by such efforts to overcome difficulties in the 
way of attaining any proper object of pursuit. 

The necessity for calling the Intellect of the 
child to our aid, in the education of his Hope, 
will be easily seen, if we look to the conse- 
quences of either a deficiency or an excess of 



23% PHRENOLOGY 

its activity : for Intellect will exert a powerful 
influence, in either exciting or repressing its 
activity, as may, in the particular case, be 
necessary. If the organ of this faculty be 
small, unhappiness is the consequence ; — the 
individual is low-spirited ; discouraged by the 
merest trifles ; magnifies real evils, and creates 
imaginary ones ; cannot muster enterprise 
sufficient to undertake anything in which 
failure is possible ; can see nothing but the 
shades of the picture of futurity. If his talents 
are good, or even average, he will often 
succeed better than he expects ; but yet, 
especially if Self-Esteem be moderate, will 
repeat, again and again, the same round of 
despondencies and success. It is obvious that, 
in such a case, the feeling is too weak, and 
requires stimulus : and by no means can this 
be more probably communicated, than by 
repeated and varied exhibitions of facts, — 
instances of successful effort, even under dis- 
couraging circumstances ; and the most valua- 
ble of all such instances will be those of his 
own success. These, however, will need 
repeating frequently ; — " line upon line, line 



IN THE FAMILY. 233 

upon line ; precept upon precept, precept upon 
precept ; — and the utmost patience must be 
exercised by the parent, with a child thus 
organized :• — let the attempt be persevered in, 
and it will not wholly and finally fail : — " in 
due season ye shall reap, if ye faint not." 

Nor is the importance of the aid of Intellect 
at all decreased, in cases the very reverse of 
the above : but it exerts its influence on Hope, 
not only directly, but indirectly also. Large 
Hope will fill the future of the child's life with 
the brightest visions ; and it will be impossible 
to bedim them into the colors which belong to 
really sober expectations. Difficult attainments, 
and almost impossible ones, appear easy, and 
hazardous ones certain : its subject will be 
sanguine, cheerful, lively, buoyant ; — feeding 
always on the future ; promising largely, and 
intending and expecting to fulfil his promises. 
Here, as before, Intellect must be addressed : 
he must be taught that he cannot accomplish 
everything ; because there is a limit to his 
powers, which is easily reached : — he must be 
made repeatedly, and perhaps severely, to feel 
that there is such a limit, by being left, in some 
19* 



234 PHRENOLOGY 

difficult crises, to his own resources. Other 
cases must be related to him, of disappoint- 
ments following those who cherished even 
reasonable expectations. He must be shown 
that his character will suffer from the extrava- 
gance of his hope ; and that he will often erect 
monuments, before which his fellows will 
pause ; and pointing to him, will say, " that 
boy began to build, but was not able to finish, — 
he has undertaken so many things, that he has 
accomplished nothing." This will address 
Approbativeness, through the Intellect ; and by 
the probability of its being painfully affected, 
will awaken Cautiousness — the invaluable and 
indispensable associate of an excessive activity 
of Hope. Through Intellect, Conscientiousness 
may be addressed, also ; and the child may be 
shown that though, intending and expecting to 
fulfil his promises and engagements, he is 
guiltless of falsehood, it is yet morally wrong 
to excite confident expectations, which he is 
not certain he can fulfil ; and (Intellect again 
addressed) that in a world of so much uncer- 
tainty, and where so little is subject to our 
control ^ we can very rarely be certain of results, 



IN THE FAMILY. 235 

how fair soever may be the promise of them ; 
and that, therefore, we should almost never 
give absolute promises ; and never unless the 
result depends only on ourselves. Benevolence 
may be employed, also, through the Intellect, 
in moderating the activity of Hope. The child 
may be shown that disappointments inflict 
pain, and that, therefore, by promising what he 
does not, and cannot perform, he gives pain, 
where, but for his promises, none would 
have been experienced. We might enlarge 
with ease, but these instances will be sufficient 
to explain our meaning, when we say Intellect 
and the higher Sentiments must be addressed 
in the cultivation of the faculty of Hope. 

IDEALITY. 

The existence of the faculty which we 
designate " Ideality," is not, we believe, any 
where questioned, among civilized men: butitis 
recognized under another name — " Imagina- 
tion. " But what Metaphysicians call by the 
latter name, is not exactly what Phrenologists 
mean by " Ideality. " It is not a power of 



236 PHRENOLOGY 

mental creation, but a sentiment ox feeling of 
ideal perfection, beauty, finish, elegance, 
which may belong to all the objects of the 
external senses, and of the perceptive faculties; 
and its function is to adorn and beautify all 
such objects, and to refine and elevate all the 
feelings of which man is rendered capable. 
Without it man would have continued always 
a savage ; he could hardly have advanced 
even to the stage of Barbarism, and much less 
to those of Civilization and Refinement. But 
it exists in all men, to some extent ; and in all 
it should receive appropriate education. In no 
faculty do we perceive a greater difference, as to 
the degree in which it exists, in different per- 
sons ; and we uniformly find, other things 
being equal, that in proportion to the cerebral 
developement in the region of the organ, is 
the mental manifestation of the faculty of 
which that organ is the instrument. But, im- 
portant as this feeling is, — indispensable as it 
is, to the excitement of the other faculties to 
action, on their appropriate objects, so as to 
help and urge man forward to that perfection 
of his Intellectual and Moral nature to which he 



IN THE FAMILY. 237 

is destined, we must not forget that it i3 a 
mere feeling ; and therefore must not be left 
without guidance and control. It must be 
placed under the guidance of Intellect ; and 
subjected, in different individuals, to different 
discipline ; sometimes requiring restraint, and 
sometimes excitement ; according as it exists in 
excessive, or in deficient devolopement. In 
some children this faculty is quite feeble, and 
requires to be excited : they are coarse, low, 
vulgar, unrefined in their tastes, feelings, and 
pursuits ; and this, notwithstanding perhaps, 
they do not belong to the lowest walks in 
society ; — nay, although they may be destined 
to move in superior circles. Such children 
will generally discover little taste for improve- 
ment, advancement, politeness, and elegance. 
"What is called " taste " you cannot enable 
them to conceive of ; and of course, the cultiva- 
tion of it in them is difficult and almost 
impossible. Things as they are generally 
satisfy them, and they rarely inquire how they 
ought to be, nor how they may be improved. 
The beautiful, in nature or art, has for them no 
charms ; the flower, in the beauty, delicacy, 



238 PHRENOLOGY 

and harmony of its tints, and in the exquisite- 
ness of its structure, and the variety of its parts, 
and the distinctness of their uses, has no beau- 
ties, beyond those coarser and more obvious ones 
of form and colour, and these are seen merely 
in the gross. The beautiful varieties of hill 
and vale, wood and waterfall, produce no more 
emotion from their contemplation, than would 
a desert of sand, or the waste and bitter waters 
of the Dead Sea. The works of art either 
please not at all ; or, if they do, it is not those in 
the higher walks of it : — the Poetry of painting, 
engraving, or sculpture, is never recognized. 
Coarse and worthless prints are as highly 
valued, as the most breathing creations of 
Genius ; and poetic compositions are regarded 
only as unnatural and out of the way modes, of 
saying common things ; and its design is sup- 
posed to be, that the writer may appear very 
fine, and be very ridiculous. In such cases it 
must be obvious that the faculty requires 
cultivation ; — the proper stimulus must be 
afforded to it ; and the question occurs, What 
is that Stimulus ! We answer, the appropriate 
objects of the faculty must be presented to it ; 



IN THE FAMILY. 239 

and all things of an opposite character, as 
much as possible, kept at a distance. Nothing 
vulgar, coarse, groveling, must be allowed to 
be said in the presence of such a child ; and his 
associates must be chosen from those above, 
rather than from those below him. Ignorant 
and vulgar servants must, on no account, have 
the charge of him ; especially if Imitation be 
large and active : for on them, as models, he 
will in that case, form himself. The beauties 
of nature should be discovered for him, and 
pointed out to him, and expatiated on before 
him : and this frequently, for a long period. 
Beauties of style and expression should 'be 
remarked on, in his presence, and coarseness 
of expression, and all inelegancies in an author 
remarked, and censured. If possible, he 
should see only good specimens of the fine 
arts, in painting and engraving; and the beauties 
of these should be carefully sought out for him, 
and his attention directed to them. He should 
be -encouraged to cultivate flowers, for their 
beauty ; and because they are the Creator's 
ornaments to the earth. By & patient continu- 
ance in such a course ; beneficial results may 



240 PHRENOLOGY 

be expected to follow ; but let the parents who 
have the training of such a child, remember, 
that it is only " if they faint not that they 
shall reap :" and there is danger, with such a 
soil to cultivate, that the work may be aban- 
doned, as hopeless. It is not so : beneficial 
results will succeed ; though it may be after 
much toil ; and in small measure : "whatso- 
ever a man sow, that shall he also reap." 
There is encouragement arising from another 
source, also : — viz : that there are very few 
cases quite so trying as that which is above 
supposed : it is an extreme case ; — such an 
one as occurs not, in one case of a thousand ; 
and in proportion as the case may be re- 
moved from this, in its features of difficulty, 
will the labor and hopelessness of education be 
diminished. 

But there are cases of the excessive activity 
of this feeling ; and here, a different course of 
treatment is necessary. In such children, 
especially with active Marvellousness, the 
reins will, probably, be given to rampant Fancy. 
The mind will revel in scenes of fiction and 
romance : for Poetry, there will be a passion, 



IN THE FAMILY. 241 

even though there may be little talent to make 
it. Inanimate nature will be conceived of, 
as possessing a sort of life and consciousness ; 
of which all its varieties and changes will be 
supposed to be the results : the seasons of the 
year, day and night, echoes and winds, will be 
personified by the imagination ; and all nature 
crowded with the fabulous beings, to which the 
fancy of Poets has given birth. Such children 
can never be satisfied with things as they are : 
they are too low, too coarse, too remote from 
the perfection of which they conceive, and of 
which the writers of fiction have told them : — 
with real life they have scarcely any sympa- 
thies ; they live in the region of Utopia. It 
requires no words to prove, that the state of the 
feeling under review is as far from desirable, as 
is the former. Medium is what is most 
desirable'; — it was in order to rise to this, that 
in the case of the former extreme, we recom- 
mended its cultivation by stimulus ; and that it 
may descend to this, we, in the case of its too 
great activity, recommend palliatives, and 
anodynes. It is desirable to secure refinement 
of feeling and expression, without sickly 
20 



242 PHRENOLOGY 

delicacy in either; or in anything else. In 
order to promote this, let it be taken for granted, 
that in cases like that above described, cultiva- 
tion, in the sense of excitement, or calling into 
activity the feeling, is entirely needless. It 
will act sufficiently, even under all the restraints 
which can be laid upon it, by a sound education. 
The Intellect of the child must be instructed, 
relative to the sober realities of the world he 
inhabits ; and he must be taught, that sound 
wisdom consists in enjoying what is within 
reach, and aiming at what may be attained ; and 
not in rejecting what he may enjoy, because it 
is not invested with ideal perfection : nor in 
sighing after what cannot be reached ; because, 
it has no existence, except in his own concep- 
tions. Show him that these conceptions will 
be fruitful sources of sorrow, instead of enjoy- 
ment, to him, unless they are placed under the 
discipline of Intellect ; and that to its dictations 
and restraints, they must be subject. If he 
turns, with disgust, from things as they are, 
strive to exercise his Ideality on its proper 
objects, by showing him that earth is not the 
desert that he conceives it to be : — that there 



IN THE FAMILY. 243 

are thousands of forms of beauty, and tints of ♦ 
loveliness, and strains of melody, which he 
overlooks ; and that in real life, he can discover 
love as pure, and friendship as disinterested 
and self-sacrificing, as those of which Poets 
sing, and Novelists dream : and, for instances, 
point him to the dear circle of his own domestic 
relations ; — a parent's tenderness, — a brother's 
and a sister's love. From the reading of such 
children, works of fiction should be, as much 
as possible, excluded ; and the poetry they 
read should be of the chaste, sober, character ; 
not at all connected with the creations of 
fancy ; but such, only, as invests things which 
are, with beauty ; — which discovers and dis- 
plays the beauties of Nature, and invests them 
in the garb of morality and religion. Cowper, 
Kirke White, Mrs. Hemans, and Mrs. 
Sigourney are instances of such Poets as are of 
useful tendency in such cases. 

IMITATION. 

It has been often remarked that man is an 
imitative being. This was known long before 



244 PHRENOLOGY 

t it was ascertained that there was a portion of 
the brain whose function it is to impart the 
power of imitating. In the young of our own 
species, this faculty is exceedingly active ; and 
it is necessary that it should be so, because 
much, which it is the design of education to 
teach, must be learned by means of it. It is 
indeed rarely, and almost never, advisable to 
exercise it alone, even if it were easily practi- 
cable ; and those pursuits of childhood which 
require the activity of Imitation, usually re- 
quire it in connection with Constructiveness or 
some other of the intellectual, or semi-intellect- 
ual faculties. In the education of this faculty, 
it is rarely necessary to present it with a 
stimulus, or to excite it, for the reason already 
assigned, — that in childhood it is, generally, 
quite active : the principal effort of the parent 
should be, to see that it is properly associated 
with the activity of other faculties ; and under 
the control of the Moral Sentiments. If it 
should be active alone — free from the re- 
straints of those Sentiments, and apart from 
the illuminations of Intellect, the child would 
be a mere monkey. If active in connection 



IN THE FAMILY. 245 

with only Mirthfulness, he would be only a 
Buffoon ; — if still further associated with 
Secretiveness, and a measure of Intellect, a 
Humourist ; if associated with Mirthfulness 
and Intellect, and without Secretiveness, he 
would be a Wit;if with Constructiveness, 
and only a moderate developement of Intellect, 
he would be a mere copyist, having no origi- 
nal thoughts, and producing no original combi- 
nations ; and so on, according as the faculties 
varied, with which it might happen, in particu- 
lar cases, to act. 

So very extensive is the sphere of the 
activity of Imitation, that were we to enlarge 
on the several portions of it, and give directions 
for its education, in all the combinations of 
which it is capable, it would require a volume 
of itself. Almost all the actions of life require 
its exercise : it is by this faculty that we 
learn, either to speak, or write ; our own lan- 
guage, or any other; for, though we may be 
acquainted with the words, by means of 
another faculty, it is Imitation which enables 
us to utter them, so as to render ourselves 
intelligible. In writing, drawing, and indeed, 
20 * 



246 PHRENOLOGY 

all mechanical operations, a large and active 
Imitation is necessary, to give facility and 
effect. We shall confine ourselves to such 
particulars as appear to be fraught with most 
danger, from the activity of this faculty ; and 
offer some suggestions, relative to the combina- 
tions it is desirable to form, between its activi- 
ty, and that of other faculties and feelings. 

It is very apt to be active, in connection with 
Mirthfulness ; — in this there is nothing wrong 
in itself; but mischief is likely to result, if their 
combined activity be unaccompanied by that 
of Veneration : Seniors, Teachers, Parents, 
and Superiors in general, will, in all probability 
be imitated, in their peculiarities of tone, gesture, 
pronunciation, gait, &c, the result of which 
will be, that they will be disesteemed, and treat- 
ed disrespectfully. If, in addition, Veneration 
be moderate or small (and it is a rather defi- 
cient organ, in the American head) what is 
religious, in the office, character, or conversa- 
tion of these superiors, will be chosen for 
imitation, and exhibition to ridicule. In such 
cases, the evil consequences can be easily fore- 
seen, in the imitator, and in other children of 



IN THE FAMILY. 247 

the family. The former can scarcely fail of 
disesteeming what he ridicules ; and the difficul- 
ty, always great, is increased, of leading him to 
give that attention to religion, which is its due : 
and the latter, since they witness the religion of 
others subjected to ridicule, will probably, 
regard it with increased aversion, and fear to 
embrace it, even though convinced of its impor- 
tance ; lest their Approbativeness should suffer 
pain, from themselves being made the objects 
of disrespectful merriment. 

The combination of faculties under consid- 
eration, if accompanied by small, or moderate 
Benevolence, will need watching in another 
point also : — there will be danger that the 
aged, the infirm, and the unfortunate may be 
selected as the objects of the activity of Imita- 
tion ; and thus, that form of unkindness in- 
dulged, which is commonly called "mocking." 
To prevent this, is a much easier task than to 
apply effectually, a remedy ; and hence the 
importance of carefully watching, without 
seeming to do so, a child thus organized ; 
and adopting the requisite measures for preven- 
tion. Intellect, in such a case, must be in- 



248 PHRENOLOGY 

structed ; the child must be shown that it often 
happens, in this life, that persons suffer through 
the faults of others ; and that infirmity, some- 
times, is the consequence, in an individual, of 
misconduct, or ignorance, in his parents, or 
grand-parents. Then, remind him that when 
he suffers, in any way, he expects sympathy; 
and that his expectation is reasonable, because 
the proper object of compassion is misery. 
Further, show him that he would specially 
feel sympathy due to him, if he suffered where 
no neglect, nor any fault, was chargeable upon 
him; and also, that his feeling would be just. 
Remind him, next, that others havfc the same 
claims on him, that he would have on them, 
in a change of condition ; and hence, that they 
expect, and should receive from him, sympa- 
thy under their sufferings ; that it is their due, 
and that it is unjust and unkind to withhold it. 
By this means, you will foreclose the activity 
of Imitation and Mirthfulness, with relation to 
the infirmities and misfortunes of others ; and 
what is called " mocking" can scarcely take 
place ; and certainly will not, without loud 
remonstrances from Conscientiousness, and 



IN THE FAMILY. 249 

Benevolence, enlightened and enforced by 
(the illumination of) Intellect: and the enlist- 
ment of these feelings in the right direction, 
will be an important assistance in rectifying 
the evil, should it ever take place. 

It sometimes happens, that, in connection 
with a large developement of the organ of this 
faculty, there is also large Veneration, and 
perhaps Marvellousness. In such cases the 
feelings connected with religions subjects will 
be strong ; and there is danger, in certain cases, 
that the manifestations of religion will be 
imitated ; while yet the child is a stranger to 
the principle. This will be more than com- 
monly likely, if either the developement of 
the intellectual faculties be small, or moderate ; 
or if they have not been properly cultivated. 
Such a child will, probably, under the influence 
of mere Imitation, read the scriptures, and at- 
tend on public worship, and on that of the fam- 
ily, and perhaps, if he knows his parents to do 
so, may offer prayer in retirement. These 
acts, under the influence of this feeling, he is 
led to imitate : and his large Veneration im- 
parts to him a sort of superstitious feeling of 



250 PHRENOLOGY 

pleasure, in so doing. He has, perhaps, 
small Secretiveness, and hence has no design to 
act apart, and deceive others ; and if Conscien- 
tiousness be large, he would abhor the charac- 
ter of a hypocrite. But he may be deceived, 
though he designs not to deceive; and it is to 
prevent his self-deception, that the efforts of 
those who train him should be directed. He 
is, by supposition, sincere; but is mistaken; 
and this very statement suggests the proper 
mode of treatment, in the case of such a child. 
He is mistaken : his mistakes then, must be 
rectified. He supposes that praying, and 
going to meeting, and reading the bible, con- 
stitute religion : he sees his parents to practice 
these, if pious, and supposes that, for him to 
practice these, is to be pious also : and imag- 
ines that when these are done, his duty to 
God is performed. Inform him then, that 
these are but external acts, which, in the truly 
pious, result from internal principles : — that 
God, the glorious object of worship, is a spirit, 
and searches the hearts, or is acquainted 
with the inmost dispositions, of the worship- 
per ; and that when these are not such as 



IN THE FAMILY. 251 

he approves, the substitution of the external 
acts, for these dispositions, is offensive to 
him : and so far from being the perform- 
ance of all he requires, is not the performance 
of any part of it ; but really increases the guilt 
of him who supposes that he worships God 
by these means. It is not intended that by 
adopting this course, such a child will be 
rendered truly pious; we know better than 
this; but we do say, that, since religion is a 
rational service, the intellect of its subject 
should be engaged in it; and that, by such 
means as are above pointed out, the intellect- 
ual powers are so addressed, as has a tendency 
to enlighten them; and we think that a child, 
constituted as we have supposed, will, if thus 
treated, be likely to become an intelligent 
christian; or at least, will be unable longer to 
continue the victim of self-deception. 



252 PHRENOLOGY 



MIRTHFULNESS OR WIT. 

The existence, in human nature, of this 
faculty, will scarcely be questioned, unless by 
some person, most unhappily endowed, with 
only a very small portion of it. Such a person 
may consider that it belongs not to the species, 
and that all manifestations of its activity are the 
results of mis-education, and instances of im- 
pertinence. With such persons we have very 
little argument ; we expect not to meet with 
many such, in our passage through life ; and as 
they are so inconsiderable a fraction of the 
species, it will scarcely be expected that we 
write for their benefit. But there is a larger 
class, who require a respectful attention, and 
shall receive it : — those who cannot but admit 
that Mirthfulness is an element of our nature ; 
and yet labor under the mis-apprehension that 
it belongs to the sinful portion of our nature, 
and should never be indulged ; but carefully 
watched against, and repressed. A few words 
will, perhaps, be sufficient to correct this mis- 
apprehension. 



IN THE FAMILY. 253 

It will scarcely be questioned that whatever are 
the peculiarities in the constitution of human na- 
ture, they have a legitimate sphere of develope- 
ment and exercise; and, in that sphere, are in- 
tended to be employed. For instance, Man is 
the only reflecting being, among all the tribes of 
animals to which our Creator has given exist- 
ence upon earth : hence, the inference is valid, 
that there is an appropriate sphere in which his 
reflective powers are to act ; or, that his Maker 
designed that he should reason and reflect. 
Man is, also, the only moral being, among all 
the inhabitants of earth ; the only one capable 
of appreciating moral subjects, and feeling the 
influence of motives to moral actions : hence 
as before, the inference is sound, that his Maker 
designed that he should be a moral agent, — a 
religious being. In like manner, since among 
all the tribes of sentient beings with which 
we are acquainted, there is none, except man, 
who is a laughing animal, — none but he, 
capable of appreciating the ludicrous and incon- 
gruous, — it was the design of his Maker, that 
from these he should receive impressions, or 
should be affected by them ; and as laughter is 
21 



254 PHRENOLOGY 

the natural and involuntary expression of a 
sense of the incongruous or ridiculous, it was 
designed that man should laugh, as well as that 
he should reason. 

The conscientious, but misguided, religionists 
with whom we here have to do, in vain allege 
that the Scriptures do not sanction laughter : — 
it would be easy to show, if this were the place, 
that they do recognize the existence of the 
feeling, and that they address it too. It is 
almost too glaring an instance of pitiful ignor- 
ance to allude gravely to it, but it is justifiable, 
because it is gravely alledged against the lawful- 
ness of the act of laughter, " that we no where 
read that our Redeemer ever was other than 
grave, and that often he was sad ; — that we 
have no evidence that his features ever relaxed 
into a smile. " Perhaps we need make use of 
no more words on this childish remark, than to 
relate the observation of a child, about nine or 
ten years of age, to her father, when she had 
heard a minister, from the pulpit, make the 
above remark : " Papa," said she, " I think 
Jesus must have smiled, when he took the 
little children in his arms, and blessed them." 



IN THE FAMrLY. 255 

This remark of the child was more worthy of 
the minister, than was his own ; and his was 
less appropriate to himself, than it would have 
been to the child, had she been three or four 
years younger than she was. 

We must distinguish between the use of a 
faculty, and its perversion : our Eedeemer 
never abused this faculty, nor any other of the 
faculties of his human nature ; but this proves 
not that he possessed not, or that he did not 
exercise them. The danger lies in the excessive 
activity, or in the uncontrolled activity of 
the feeling ; not in that activity itself In 
the case of certain children, there is danger 
of one or other of these ; and the danger is 
less or greater, in proportion as the directing 
and controlling organs are more or less deve- 
loped, and more or less perfectly cultivated. 
The original impulse of a large and active 
Mirthfulness is, to give ludicrous conceptions : 
but of ivhat subjects, will depend on other 
faculties, and their culture or restraint. With 
small and uneducated Marvellousness and 
Veneration, there will be danger that things 
sacred will be thus treated : with large Marvel- 



256 PHRENOLOGY 

lousness, and small Veneration ; it will more 
probably be with sacred persons, than with 
sacred things, that the child will sport : 
Parents, Teachers, Superiors, will perhaps be 
the butt of his ridicule. With small Benevo- 
lence, he will, probably, turn to ridicule the 
misfortunes, and infirmities of his fellow 
creatures : and with small Conscientiousness, 
the scrupulosity of others on matters of right, 
and the principles of morals. In one word, 
the combinations, and their degrees, may vary 
almost endlessly ; and so will vary the manifes- 
tations. 

From the remarks in the foregoing paragraph, 
a reflecting parent, will, at once, perceive, that 
the excessive activity of the feeling must be 
guarded against ; and a right direction must be 
given to it. If large, it will act ; and we must 
endeavour to do for it, from among the faculties, 
as we do for our children, from among their 
acquaintance, — select its associates. For in- 
stance, some of the faculties are dangerous 
associates for it; and we should strive, as far 
as may be, to prevent their acting together. 
This is the case with Imitation : and yet, from 



IN THE FAMILY. 257 

its juxta-position in the brain, it is like a dan- 
gerous companion for our child, who lives next 
door ; they are specially liable to act in com- 
bination; and we can scarcely keep them 
asunder. Some again, are desirable com- 
panions of its activity : such are Benevolence, 
Veneration, and Conscientiousness. Under 
their control we should strive to place it; in 
connection, always, with an enlightened In- 
tellect. Inform the child that while mirth is 
permitted, in itself, there are certain subjects 
on which it is not to be indulged : — that sacred 
things, such as have a connexion with religion 
and the future state, must never be so conceived 
of, or at least so exhibited, as to produce 
merriment. By this lesson, you cultivate 
Veneration, and train it to control Mirthfulness ; 
and you educate Mirthfulness to submit to the 
control of Veneration. You do the same thing 
precisely, and by the same means, when you 
prohibit the activity of this feeling, (and 
especially its association with Imitation, in 
activity,) with regard to persons who should 
command respect, Superiors, Teachers, Seni- 
ors, <fec Thus also you may excite Benevo- 
21* 



258 PHRENOLOGY 

lence to lend its controlling influence, in 
chastening Mirthfulness, by instructing Intellect 
that it is unkind, and cruel, to turn to ridicule, 
the infirmities of the unfortunate, — the blind, 
lame, aged, &c. The same effect is produced 
on Conscientiousness, when you inform your 
child (i. e. instruct, or enlighten Intellect) that 
every one has a right to all the enjoyment of 
which he is capable, in obedience to all the 
laws of his nature, and under all the circum- 
stances of his being ; and that whenever, by 
ridicule, he (the child) inflicts pain wantonly, 
he does wrong; invades the rights of his 
fellows : and that God regards him as guilty, in 
so doing. 

The proper, and innocent sphere of activity 
should be pointed out to the child : he should be 
informed that merriment is permissible, in cases 
where it is excited by accidents, not in them- 
selves serious, or painful ; by carelessness, 
inattention, and negligence, and the consequen- 
ces thence arising. Also, that there are instances 
in which ignorance, self-conceit, and folly can 
scarcely be assailed by the sober weapons of 
reason, or the graver ones of religion ; which, 



IN THE FAMILY. t59 

yet, may be reached and corrected, by means 
of a keen and caustic wit : and therefore, 
that this is another appropriate sphere of its 
activity. Let him understand, however, that 
it must never break loose from the restraints of 
Benevolence : for, that the legitimate design of 
wit, or ridicule, is, to correct the errors or follies 
of its object, and not to inflict pain; so that, 
when the end is answered, Benevolence requires 
the cessation of the assault : and that this is 
equally required, when amendment becomes 
hopeless ; since, thence-forward, no object can 
be secured by ridicule, but the infliction of pain : 
and this alone, is never right. 

CONSCIENTIOUSNESS, VENERATION AND 
BENEVOLENCE. 

It may, probably, have struck the attention 
of the reader, that we have not, heretofore, 
said anything of the direct education of the 
higher Moral Sentiments ; or the religious 
feelings. This has not been through over- 
sight, but by design : for it is certain, to the 
mind of the writer, that the direct and imme- 



260 PHRENOLOGY 

diate appeal, or address to any feeling, (and 
therefore to the religious ones) is highly im- 
proper. Nor should the attempt be made to 
address them alone ; but opportunities should 
be sought, (and of these many will present 
themselves,) for training these, together with 
the other feelings, through the Intellectual 
Faculties, or the Understanding. 

The religious feelings, or the Higher Moral 
Sentiments, are so intimately connected with 
each other, that it is not so easy to offer any 
suggestions, as to the training of them separate- 
ly, or individually, as it is, in the case of the 
other feelings : and the difficulty is the greater, 
because all the three, mentioned above, come 
into activity simultaneously, in nearly every 
religious exercise. 

It was mentioned, in a previous chapter, that 
among the Moral Sentiments, the Edinburgh 
Phrenologists distinguish between the higher 
and the lower Sentiments ; and the three which 
now come under consideration, constitute the 
class which they denominate the higher Senti- 
ments. There appears to be good reason for 
this, in the very nature of the faculties them- 



IN THE FAMILY. 261 

selves : we have called them religious senti- 
ments ; not because their activity, to the 
exclusion of the activity of other sentiments, 
constitutes religious emotion ; but because there 
is that in their nature, which corresponds, in 
one striking particular, with the very essence 
of religion itself: — viz : disinterestedness. In 
a religious man, these faculties are in a readi- 
ness for action : and they do operate, in every 
truly religious act of the mind : but they do 
not act alone; there are others, which, in 
various degrees, in different individuals, com- 
bine with them : but it is only contingently, and 
not essentially, that they are religious, when so 
combined. These three are the only unselfish 
faculties in our nature ; and hence, as religion is 
an unselfish principle, we perceive the truth of 
the statement, that their activity enters essential- 
ly into all religious emotion. Conscientiousness 
regards abstract right, and duty, irrespective of 
its bearings, on ourselves or on others. Venera- 
tion leads to the exercise, by us, of respect, rever- 
ence, or worship, to other beings, and cannot 
be selfish in its nature. Benevolence is kindly 
feeling towards others, and may assume various 



262 PHRENOLOGY 

forms, as gratitude, compassion, love, &c, but, 
in no case is its object self. 

It is otherwise with those feelings which 
enter accidentally, or contingently, into our 
religious emotions : they are selfish in their 
nature, even though they may be truly under 
the control of the higher Sentiments. For 
example, Fear is an element in our religious 
emotions ; but fear is excited Cautiousness, 
which, when it acts with respect to religion, 
bids us take care of the highest interests of 
self The desire of final approval by the Judge 
of all, enters largely into our religious emotions ; 
but this is onlyApprobativeness, lawfully active 
to secure for self the applauding " well done." 
Marvellousness, the faculty by which we exer- 
cise faith, puts forth its energies relative to 
revealed truths in which self is concerned. 
Hope looks for some greater good beyond the 
grave, than has, here, ever been experienced ; 
but it is a good to be possessed by self In 
short, it is so wiih every faculty we possess, 
except the three we have here classed together, 
and they are essentially religious Sentiments. 

But though it is with these that we have 



IN THE FAMILY. 263 

especially to do, in the religious education of 
children, let it not, for a moment, be supposed 
that we have to do exclusively with these. In 
the business of religious education, these should 
be addressed ; but they should rarely, and 
indeed scarcely ever be addressed alone : but 
always through the Intellectual faculties ; — the 
understanding. But this is very far from being 
the usual mode of teaching religion to children. 
On the contrary, a course is adopted which is 
not only injudicious ; but, if it may be said 
without offence, is positively absurd: — exhibi- 
tions are made both of religion and of God, 
which can scarcely be productive of any other 
effects, than a rooted aversion to both; — teachers 
and parents "sow cockle, and expect to reap bar- 
ley." But it cannot be so : — it is admitted that 
they have no such designs, or wishes ; they de- 
sire and intend the very reverse : but there are 
certain tendencies in the course they adopt, 
which their good intentions will not reverse. 
The human mind has received from its Creator 
a certain nature and constitution ; and according 
to this, it will be affected in a certain way, by 
certain modes of treatment; and if certain 



264 PHRENOLOGY 

courses have a tendency to produce injury and 
mischief, the purest motives, and the best 
intentions, joined to the most fervent prayers 
will not prevent it, or effect its opposite. 

Probably every'one will readily acknowledge 
that real religion consists in supreme love to 
God, and such a course of conduct as will 
arise from that single source. In the religious 
education of a child, then, the great object con- 
templated by a parent, is, to inspire such a 
love to Him. It is love which produces love, 
according to a common adage ; or, more pro- 
perly, it is loveliness which produces it. Ac- 
cordingly, the loveliness of the divine character 
should be brought before the child, in order to 
awaken his affection. But is this the actual 
course, in the religious training of a child? 
Very far from it. Instead of this, it is usual to 
make such displays of the character of God as 
are calculated to excite scarcely any feelings 
but those of terror and alarm : i. e. in the 
attempt to inspire love to God, in the bosom 
of a child, and with the intention too, that such 
shall be the result, measures are actually taken, 
the most naturally adapted to prevent that 



IN THE FAMILY. 265 

result, and produce exactly the opposite one. 
We can, it is true, account satisfactorily to 
ourselves, for the adoption of this mode of 
procedure ; but this does neither annihilate the 
evil, nor lessen it : and we should feel little 
inclination to unravel the philosophy of so 
imphilosophical a course, were it not for the 
hope that the exhibition of the evil may have a 
tendency to diminish it. 

Pious parents and teachers desire for their 
children and pupils, above all things, that they 
should become the subjects of real religion. 
They consider, too, that, since religion is 
nothing, unless it has the dominion in the soul, 
they must labour to invest it with the domin- 
ion : and accordingly, that they must address 
the most powerful feelings of the child, and en- 
list them on the side of religion and of God, in 
order to accomplish this object. Now, they 
are conscious that one of the most powerful 
feelings, in themselves, is fear, i. e. excited 
Cautiousness ; and also, that it is when they 
make appeals to the same feeling in their 
children, (i. e. when they threaten to punish 
them) that they are most successful in securing 
22 



266 PHRENOLOGY 

obedience to their own commands ; therefore, 
as they think religion to consist in obedience 
to God, they conclude that obedience to Him 
will be most effectually secured by an appeal 
to the same feeling, as produces obedience to 
them. Hence they make very early, and per- 
haps some of their very earliest and strongest 
appeals to Cautiousness ; and exhibit to their 
children, almost wholly, those attributes, and 
those acts, of the Creator, which shall awaken 
their fears : — viz : his terrors ; — the "fire and 
brimstone, and horrible tempest " of the world 
of despair, &c. &c. If 

— u Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood 
Of human sacrifice, and parent's tears, " 

were the God of Christians, a course of con- 
duct like that above described would be perfect- 
ly rational, in the religious education of their 
children, but as the case really is, it is impossi- 
ble to conceive of any mode of training called 
religious, which is less deserving of the 
name. 

The errors in this case are several ; and as 
it is not to be expected that they will be 



IN THE FAMILY. 267 

remedied till they are known, nor that they 
will be known, till they are pointed out, we 
shall take the liberty of specifying at least 
some of them. 

First. Evidence is sufficient in the above 
expose of the rationale of religious education, 
as actually conducted, that the training of 
children is, in other respects than those which 
regard religion, very far from what it should 
be ; and more than this, that the training of 
the past generation was not more in accord- 
ance with nature, than is that of the present. 

Parents and teachers would not be conscious 
of the commanding and supreme power of 
Fear, as a motive to proper conduct, if they 
had themselves been properly trained. Had 
the proper direction been given, in their case, 
to the activity of Adhesiveness and Veneration, 
these united, would have assumed the suprema- 
cy, and would not have yielded it to a merely 
animal feeling. Affection (the activity of Adhe- 
siveness) and respect, (the activity of Venera- 
tion) would have taken the government of 
the mind; and fear (the activity of excited 
Cautiousness) would have possessed only a 



268 PHRENOLOGY 

subordinate power there. But the conduct of 
the miseducated parent, in subjecting his child 
to a discipline similar to that through which he 
himself passed, has a direct tendency to per- 
petuate the evil through successive generations: 
unless indeed, a stop may happily be put to it. 
A little reflection will perhaps do something 
towards altering and reversing the treatment. 
Let it be remembered then, that the present 
mode of educating a child, by giving the supreme 
command to Cautiousness, is degrading to his 
nature ; — it is treating him precisely as we do 
a brute. This may seem startling ; but it is 
nevertheless true :— a dog is trained to do or 
not to do certain things, by punishment, if he 
act contrary to his master's will. Now there 
is good sense, — sound philosophy — in thus 
treating a dog, or any of the lower animals ; be- 
cause they do not possess intelligence, sufficient 
to enable them to understand our will, expressed 
by other means. But children belong to a 
higher order of animals, and even when very 
young, possess a degree of understanding far 
greater than the lower creatures are ever capa- 
ble of attaining. But to treat them as those 



IN THE FAMILY. 269 

creatures are treated, is to affirm by action, (the 
most forcible form of affirmation,) that children 
and^ brutes are on a level : for where is the 
wisdom of subjecting to the same treatment 
and training, beings of different capacities and 
grades of dignity ? Should any one take the 
liberty of. declaring, in words, that our children 
were on a level in intelligence and capacity 
with the brutes, we should be highly and justly 
offended ; let us then be consistent, and take 
offence at ourselves, for a louder and more 
forcible assertion of the same untruth, if we 
have trained, and are training them as brutes, 
by ruling them, either altogether or principally, 
by means of fear. But this is somewhat of a 
departure from the immediate matter in ha'nd : 
Let us, then, without further remark, return 
to it. 

Secondly. In the mode of religious educa- 
tion we have remarked on, the fact is not 
adverted to, that Cautiousness is a mere 
animal feeling ; and that to make that the 
dominant feeling, is, in fact, to place the child 
under the dominion of his baser, instead of his 
nobler (his Intellectual and Moral) Nature. It 
22* 



270 PHRENOLOGY 

is to subvert the principles of our nature, and 
to contravene the precepts of divine revelation. 
It subverts the principles of our nature, for as 
we have already shown, Benevolence, Venera- 
tion and Conscientiousness, are the highest prin- 
ciples or faculties of our nature ; and as such, 
must evidently be designed by our Maker to take 
the control or command of all the rest. His 
design is plainly contravened, when, not only 
these are put down from the dominion, but one 
( viz : Cautiousness) which was designed for 
a servant, is exalted to the throne. It is as 
true, in the case of an individual, with respect 
to the subversion of order, harmony, and virtue, 
in the soul, by such an usurpation, as that un- 
der discussion, as it is of a State, under the 
control of an unqualified and unworthy magis- 
trate : — "The wicked walk on every side, when 
the vilest men are exalted." Moreover, such 
an usurpation is in opposition to the revealed 
will of God :— We have shown his will on 
this subject, in a former page, and we repeat it 
here : — the whole amount of human duty, — 
" all that the Lord requires of us, is to do just- 
ly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with 



IN THE FAMILY. 271 

our God :" i. e. to let Conscientiousness, and 
Benevolence, and Veneration, possess the su- 
preme command of the whole man. Now, in 
the religious education of children, as actually 
conducted, not only is this not done, but these 
noble and ennobling faculties are overborne, 
and almost lost, by the terrible energy given to 
the animal feeling of Cautiousness : in one 
w T ord, Religion is made to consist in nothing, 
or scarcely anything else than the servile dread 
of Hell, and eternal torments, and the selfish 
desire to escape them. 

Thirdly. It is practically forgotten that God 
is a Spirit ; and that he looks for, and will 
receive the homage of the spirit in his servants, 
and nothing short of this. Obedience to 
a parent may consist in a course of external 
conduct ; because the commands of a parent 
may relate only to external acts. Obedience 
such as this, may be secured by a constant ap- 
peal to Cautiou^e^: — by the threats of 
punishment for disobedience. But even a 
parent, who rules by the force of this motive, 
must not suppose that he is loved, or revered ; 
nor that he receives voluntary obedience from 



272 PHRENOLOGY 

his child. The parent is obeyed because 
he is dreaded^ not because he is loved : and 
the obedience the child renders, is forced, 
and not free. Obedience such as this parent 
receives, — external, forced, and servile — may 
be secured to God, by the same means : but 
where is the intelligent christian who supposes 
that such obedience is religion; or that it can 
possibly be acceptable to Him, who is the 
Searcher of hearts ; and whose single glance 
informs him that the soul of the worshipper is 
alien from. Him. These appeals to Cautious- 
ness have, indeed, produced, and they have a 
tendency to produce, "the fear of the Lord," 
that is the dread, and almost the horror of the 
Divine Being : but of the child subjected to 
such a species of religious education, we may 
say, without any gift for the discerning of spi- 
rits, that " the love of God is not in them." 
And this introduces to notice another error in 
this treatment, viz : 

Fourthly. It overlooks the fundamental 
principle, that real religion is love to God. 
Now this emotion towards our Maker is called 
into exercise by amiable exhibitions of his 



IN THE FAMILY. 273 

character, and not by those which are terrible. 
It is the goodfiess of God which effectually 
leads men to repentance ; and it is exactly the 
same with children. If we love him, it is 
from a conviction that "he first loved us." 
This is the true reason why the preaching 
of the cross of Christ is so potent an instrument 
in producing repentance, and inspiring love to 
God ; because that, more than all things else, 
proves "the exceeding riches of his grace:" 
— it shows " his kindness towards us by 
Christ Jesus," more than that kindness is dis- 
played by any other of his acts or gifts. But 
appeals to Cautiousness, not only do not, and 
can not, produce these results, but they actual- 
ly do produce such as render these almost 
impossible : the mental vision of the child is 
so filled with images of terror, that there is no 
room for the introduction of others of an oppo- 
site character ; and the cross of Christ, itself, 
possesses not sufficient effulgence to dispel the 
smoke of the bottomless pit by which it is 
concealed. 

There are errors, also, in the moral training 
of children, with regard to their feelings towards 



274 PHRENOLOGY 

religion itself. The religious training (so called) 
which they receive, excites a strong prejudice, 
against both religion and its duties. Among 
other means to which these results are attribu- 
table, may be mentioned the following. Reli- 
gious parents, of course, are actuated by the 
best and purest motives, in desiring to implant 
religion, at an early age, in the minds of their 
children ; and, under the influence of these 
motives, they take measures to form in their 
tender charge, habits of devotion. Accordingly 
they occasionally, and perhaps frequently, retire 
with their children, and pray with them. So 
far there is nothing wrong; — nothing, the results 
of which will probably be injurious : and yet 
where such a practice prevails, it is not at all 
uncommon to find it unsuccessful. The child 
may perhaps, in his simplicity and confidence, 
plainly confess to his mother, — and almost 
break her heart by the confession, — " that he 
does not love prayer." But let us pause and 
inquire what he understands by " prayer :" 
perhaps an answer to this inquiry may so ex- 
plain his meaning, as to render it by no means 
so wicked as, at first sight, it appears. Per- 



IN THE FAMILY. 275 

haps he has had his mind filled with terrible 
images of the Divine character ; — and when he 
is told that prayer is intercourse with this 
terrible Being, can we wonder that he does not 
love it ? Be it remembered, that such a child 
has scarcely any other conceptions of God, 
than such as are precisely calculated to terrify 
him : and yet we wonder, and are broken 
hearted, because the poor little fellow does not 
love to be terrified! Is this wise? 

Again : Perhaps the mother or father of 
such a child, though pious, and perhaps on 
many other subjects, intelligent, may be really 
ignorant of the nature of the material on which 
they are required to operate : and hence, as 
might be expected, do not act in accordance 
with its nature. Parents, in this case, may 
not know, or they may forget, that activity is 
indispensable to a child's enjoyment; and 
consequently, that stillness or inaction, can be 
commanded only for short periods, without 
producing uneasiness and restlessness : and 
through this forgetfulness, may lengthen the 
devotional duty with the child, to the point 
where weariness begins ; and perhaps even 



276 PHRENOLOGY 

much beyond it ; This he certainly does not 
like ; and he associates confinement and inac- 
tion with prayer, and says and thinks that he 
does not love prayer. 

Again, the mother may in her closet, close 
not only her door, but perhaps her windows 
and shutters also. The -consequence of this 
is Darkness : now almost all children dislike 
darkness ; and some positively dread, and are 
terrified at it. Suppose, now, a child with 
large amd morbidly active Cautiousness, and 
perhaps Marvellousness also, to have been so 
trained and educated, with regard to the charac- 
ter of God, as to see only the terrible, which 
belongs to him : — suppose such a child with- 
drawn to a dark chamber to worship this 
dreadful object ; how can it be expected that 
the duty should be pleasant to him ? He says 
he does not like prayer ; but we can see that 
it is solitude, confinement, and darkness that 
he dislikes and dreads. 

Once more, possibly, in addition to all the 
preceding sources of uneasiness to the child, 
the voice of the mother may be dissimilar, in 
prayer, from her voice at other times ; — it may 



IN THE FAMILY. 277 

be hollow, and sepulchral, or it may be employ- 
ed in semitones (i. e. a sort of half weeping 
tone) from one end to another of a long pray- 
er ; and thus, to the affectionate child, is pre- 
sented the distressing object, of a beloved 
mother in distress. It was precisely thus with 
a child who expressed his dislike, to prayer, 
and assigned as a reason, that " it always 
makes dear Mamma so sorry." Now let us be 
understood : we have distinctly said that 
retirement with children for prayer is not 
censurable : it is the subsequent acts of shutting 
out the light, and uttering prayer in the tones 
of distress, and continuing the duty till the 
child's position becomes uneasy ; — it is these 
things which merit censure. Prayer, with 
children, especially when very young, should 
always be short; — should be uttered in a 
serious and yet perfectly natural tone of voice ; 
not differing more from that of common speech, 
than reading does ; — and it should be perform- 
ed in a light room. Moreover, the appropriate 
preparation for it is, judicious education of the 
child, relative to the character of the being- 
whom we worship, when we pray. Not only 
23 



278 PHRENOLOGY 

should he be instructed as to the power, and 
vengeance of God ; but as to his wisdom, and 
goodness, and mercy : thus Ideality, and 
Benevolence, and Hope will be exercised ; and 
exhibit their activity in admiration, and grati- 
tude, and trust. 

In the endeavour to inspire the mind of a child 
with love to God, we should proceed, substan- 
tially, as we do when we endeavour to secure 
his love towards ourselves. How is this done? 
Not by incessant appeals to Cautiousness, for 
the purpose of inspiring dread : nor by any 
addresses to the mere animal nature of the 
child. We address his nobler nature, through 
the medium of Intellect; we present, almost 
exclusively, the bland and gentle in our nature, 
to his observation ; and allow him, by reflec- 
tion, to learn that we cherish kind and affec- 
tionate feelings towards him ; and it is the 
conviction of this, which draws forth his 
affection and confidence towards us. What 
mother ever won, for her husband, the affection 
of his boy, by telling him that " Papa was so 
strong that he could do anything he pleased with 
his little son : that he had a large, sharp sword, 



IN THE FAMILY, 279 

with which he could cut his head off; and that 
Mama was not strong enough to prevent him ; 
that Papa had really cut off the heads of a great 
many children, because they did not love him ; 
and if the child did not love hi* dear Papa, he 
would certainly cut him up into mince meat?" 
The very idea is preposterous ! No : she 
pursues another and an opposite course : she 
even divests the father of some of the sterner 
elements of his character ; because the child is 
incapable of understanding the value of those 
elements ; she displays those only which her 
little pupil can understand ; and which tend to 
excite Adhesiveness, Veneration, and Benevo- 
lence : she expatiates on the expense, and 
anxiety, and labor, and self-denial to which the 
father subjects himself, for the benefit of his 
family, and thus proves to the child that his 
father loves him : and thus inspires his love 
and confidence. There is very much of Nature, 
in that stroke of the father of Grecian Poetry, 
in which he describes Hector as laying aside 
his helmet, when taking leave of Andromache 
and her child. It was the father and not the 
warrior whom the babe was to see, and to em- 



280 PHRENOLOGY 

brace. So, when parents would draw forth 
the love of their children towards God, as the 
young mind can but very imperfectly compre- 
hend the bearing of the awful attributes of 
Deity, on his own glory and the good of his 
creatures, these attributes should be but very 
sparingly exhibited. We should rather direct 
our efforts to the proof of this truth : — that 
God loves children ; and when this is clearly 
perceived, and strongly felt by them, they will 
feel the enkindlings of ingenuous, confiding, 
repentant love towards him. If we desire, in 
a given case, that children should love U6, we 
do not approach them brandishing a sword, and 
looking lightning at them : and the reason is, 
that there is nothing in an exhibition of rage 
and wrath to inspire confidence, and enkindle 
love. Who ever felt emotions like these, in 
reading Walter Scott's graphic description of 
Cormac Doyle's vengeance, on the assassin of 
Allan, his favorite page ? 

" Not so awoke the Bruce ! — his hand 
Snatch'd from the flame a knotted brand, 
The nearest weapon of his wrath ; 
With this he crossed the murderer's path, 



IN THE FAMILY. 28 1 

And venged young Allan well ! 
The spattered brain, and bubbling blood 
Hissed on the half-extinguished wood ,• 
The miscreant gasped and fell." 

And yet it is common to present to children, 
views of God, kindred to this, in order to 
inspire religion, i. e. love to God! If we desire 
children to love us, we approach them with 
smiles and pleasant looks ; and present to 
them the proof s of our good-will; and we are 
rarely unsuccessful in seeking their love. Now 
we must make analogous displays of God, to 
them, if we would win for him, their affec- 
tions. But to do this successfully, we must 
ourselves learn to see and feel the Divine 
goodness ; and to teach it from our own per- 
sonal knowledge. There is no lack of materials 
for almost endless lectures on the goodness of 
God : creation is full of them. Animals and 
vegetables, in their boundless variety, and 
various uses, and numerous parts, and the 
separate functions of each, and their adapted- 
ness to the end for which they were intended, 
and their subjection to man for his happiness, — 
these are some of the themes on which we might 
23* 



282 PHRENOLOGY 

enlarge. As a specimen of the manner in 
which some of these subjects may be presented 
to children, and made the medium of imparting 
religious instruction, we will present a short, 
familiar, conversational lecture, and it can be 
repeated substantially, and varied endlessly, by 
any parent of only common intelligence and 
reflection. 

Suppose a good and powerful Microscope to 
be in use, for the amusement and instruction of 
the children of a family, and that fig-mites are 
•exhibited before them. The first emotion 
which pervades their minds will probably be 
surprise ; — an inconsiderable degree of the 
activity of Wonder or Marvellousness ; — 
and if the youthful auditory were left to them- 
selves, they would probably wonder, and pro- 
ceed no farther. But a judicious parent will 
see that excited Wonder is an instrument of 
which he can make important use in the moral 
training of his children ; and avails himself of 
the occasion to employ it. To insure its 
activity in his children, he expatiates briefly 
on the object before them, pointing out, in the 
various parts of the object, the evidences of the 



IN THE FAMILY. 283 

wisdom and skill of the Creator. He directs 
the attention of his hearers to the various parts 
of the animal structure before him ; and 
remarks on the exquisite polish of the fig-mite's 
armour, the fineness of its bristles, the minute- 
ness of its eyes, and of the several parts of its 
internal laboratory for the digestion of its food ^ 
— its adaption to its mode of life, and the 
abundance of the stores around it, for the sup- 
ply of all its wants. When the Observing Intel- 
lect has been awakened to the perception of these 
things, such a parent will exercise the Reflec- 
tive Intellect, by turning it to operate on these 
objects of knowledge ; accordingly, he asks, 
Who made the fig-mite ? Some little one 
answers, " God made it : he made everything." 

He asks again, " What kind of a being 
must God be, to combine so great a multitude 
of parts in so very small a space, as the body 
of a fig-mite ?" 

" 1 should think," says one child, " he must 
be very wise.' 31 

" I should say he was very powerful '," says 
•another. 

u But," says the parent, " do you not per- 



284 PHRENOLOGY 

ceive more to belong to the Creator than 
wisdom and power, when you think on the 
adaptation of the fig-mite to its mode of life ; 
and the abundance by which he is surrounded, 
for the supply of all his wants ?" 

" That proves his goodness" says another 
of the children. " It does," replies the 
parent ;" and good men, many ages before the 
Microscope was invented, perceived and extolled 
the wisdom of God, in the works of Creation : 
David says, in contemplating them, " How 
great is thy goodness !" and again, " His tender 
mercy, (or his kindness, compassion, and be- 
nevolence) is over all his works." And if his 
goodness has regard to all his works, it has 
special regard to man, to whom he has put in 
subjection all his other works. How very 
ungrateful and wicked it must be, to offend 
and disobey so good and kind a Being ! And 
how dangerous to provoke so powerful a 
Being ! And how reasonable, when we have 
offended him, that we should be sorry for our 
offences, and repent ! When you offend me, 
I am sure you are always sorry for it : can you 
tell me why you are sorry ?" 



IN THE FAMILY. 285 

44 Because," replies one child, " we know 
that you love us, and are kind to us, and provide 
so many things to make us happy." 

44 You are quite correct ; but now, observe, 
God has done much more for you than ever I 
have done, or ever can do for you : and since 
it is reasonable that you should be sorry for 
offending me, it is much more reasonable that 
you should be so for offending Him : — impeni- 
tence and irreligion, remember, are unreason- 
able. And if you are truly sorry for your sins 
against God, he will forgive them all ; and that, 
even more readily than I forgive any offence 
against me : though you know I am always 
glad to forgive you as soon as I see you are 
sorry for, or have repented of a fault. For 
God has said in the Bible, that He delight eth 
in mercy ;" i. e. in forgiving those who are 
sorry for their sins. And we are sure that he 
is so : not only from what He has said, but 
from what He has done. Men's real dispositions 
are most correctly judged of by their actions ; 
and so are the dispositions of God: his acts 
prove the truth of his words. He has done 
what clearly proves, how he 'delights In 



286 PHRENOLOGY 

mercy ;' — he has given his dear Son to die on 
the cross, in order that those who have offended 
him, and are sorry for their sins, might be for- 
given ! Here, then, you see goodness, not as 
it appears in supplying, abundantly, the wants 
of the lower creatures ; but goodness which is 
really boundless and infinite ; and your love to 
God should be proportionate to it. You ad- 
mire the wisdom, and power, and goodness of 
God, as displayed in the fig-mites before you ; 
and there are millions of other things, in which 
the same perfections of his glorious nature 
appear. But when we look at redemption we 
see that 

" God, in the person of his Son, 

Has all his mightiest works out-done." 

Let His will, then, be the rule of your life; and 
his glory the object at which you aim ; " serve 
Him, with a perfect heart, and with a willing 
mind: if you seek him, he will be found of 
you ; but if you forsake him, he will cast you 
off for ever." 

It will be seen, that, in the above supposed 
attempt to educate the moral feelings, the 



IN THE FAMILY. 287 

observing intellect is first presented with its 
appropriate objects ; next the reflecting intel- 
lect is made to operate on these objects, and 
to deduce inferences : thus the whole intellect 
is presented with its appropriate aliment, truth. 
But the truth presented is not such as is calcu- 
lated to alarm the fears of the children ; — to 
excite their Cautiousness to unhealthful activity: 
it is such as excites Wonder, Veneration, and 
Benevolence. And it may be further observed, 
that this excitement is sustained and increased, 
by passing from material, to moral subjects ; 
and then and there presenting moral truth, 
which tends and is designed, to give such 
energy to the activity of the child's moral 
nature, as should render it dominant in the 
soul. It is, in fact, the dominance of the 
mora!, over the animal feelings, in the human 
subject, which constitutes his conversion, re- 
generation, or renovation ; and it is truly 
philosophical to adopt such measures to secure 
this object, as are, in their own nature, adapt- 
ed to secure it. Such are the measures above 
sketched out ; and they are such as are equally 
in accordance with common sense, and with 



288 PHRENOLOGY 

inspired truth. It is well known to the writer, 
and he deeply feels it, that success, in the 
moral and religious training of children, is of 
God, and not of us: but he is equally confident 
that God operates on mind, in religious matters, 
according to the laws of mind : and he is free 
to make the appeal , to any reflecting and con- 
siderate christian, who may honor these pages 
with a perusal, whether the training, of which 
he has here presented a mere sample, is not 
more in accordance with the laws of mind, than 
those which he has ventured to censure. 

CONCLUDING REMARKS. 

We have now finished the task we proposed 
to ourselves, of affording some hints on the 
education, in the early periods of life, of human 
nature, as it is. No element has been con- 
sidered as belonging to our nature, w T hich an 
observant and reflecting parent will fail to 
recognize in the children of his own family. 
The elements which enter into the composition 
of that nature, have been separately considered ; 
at least so far as concerns the Feelings, animal 
and moral, which belong to it : and in early 



IN THE FAMILY. 289 

education, it is with these, principally, that we 
have to do : and we have endeavoured to show 
what kind of treatment each required ; whether 
separately active, or acting in combination with 
one or more of the others. It is true, a very 
brief and imperfect sketch has been given, both 
of the functions of the several organs, and of 
the treatment which the manifestations of their 
activity should receive ; but the design of the 
writer was rather to call attention to this sub- 
ject, and excite inquiry, than to present a full, 
and extended treatise on Education. If he shall 
accomplish the object he intended, he is assured 
that the result will be beneficial. 

If the foregoing pages exhibit the education 
of the Feelings in any thing like a correct point 
of view, it must follow that some knowledge 
of the science of Phrenology is highly impor- 
tant to all parents ; and especially to Mothers ; 
because to them is committed the greater part 
of the education of children ; while they are 
the subjects of feeling, rather than of intelli- 
gence and reasoning. The elements we have 
ascribed to the nature of children, vary almost 
endlessly, in the degrees in which they exist 
24 



290 PHRENOLOGY 

in different individuals : and to train them 
aright, it is important to know, before we 
begin, not only what the elements are, but in 
what relative proportions they exist in the 
minds of the pupils. If we have not this 
knowledge at first, but wait to acquire it, till 
the children manifest both ihe existence and 
the degrees of these feelings, we shall lose time 
in experimenting upon them ; and perhaps those 
feelings which are feeble and require strength- 
ening, may be finally overpowered by such as 
are too strong : while these last will have 
increased their power, by the very experiment 
itself, which was intended to ascertain the 
degree of power, in order to bring them under 
discipline. 

It is not likely that, in a matter so important 
as the early training of children, our beneficent 
Creator would have left us without the means 
of knowledge. He has, in fact, imparted to us 
observing faculties, in order that, by their means, 
we might ascertain, what after the lapse of 
almost six thousand years, Dr. Gall did ascer- 
tain: viz: that the size and shape of the head, 
in its several regions, afford an index to the 



IN THE FAMILY. 291 

degree in which the several elementary princi- 
ples of human nature are combined, in any- 
single case ; so that, in our intercourse with the 
individual, we may adapt ourselves to the 
peculiarities he may present ; and operate oa 
him to the greatest advantage. 

Now it is in childhood, early childhood, 
and even infancy, that we can operate most 
advantageously : the material is then most 
plastic, and most readily takes impressions, 
and most tenaciously retains them. Of course, 
then, it is important to those who are destined 
to give these impressions, and are most 
interested in giving, and most concerned to 
give, right impressions, (i. e. to mothers,) to 
understand, from the first, in what relative 
proportions the elementary principles of human 
nature are combined in their own children ; that 
• they may not err in their treatment of them. 
This information Phrenology will impart to 
them : and, on this account, it is, we had 
almost said, imperative on them to study it. 
It was not always thus imperative : Phrenology 
was, at first, little more than a hypothesis ; but 
by degrees it advanced to a theory ; and ulti- 



292 PHRENOLOGY. 

mately became a system, and a science. Its 
importance, in the department of education, can 
scarcely be over rated ; — it is just beginning to 
be appreciated ; and the sooner it is appreciated 
in the nursery, the better ; because the more 
efficiently will it be applied in the subsequent 
parts of education, in proportion as the sub- 
jects of education have been, in early childhood, 
treated according to its principles. Let Parents, 
then, be admonished, that in the present state 
of knowledge upon this subject, they will not 
be found to have performed their duty, in the 
education of their children, either as regards 
their animal, their intellectual, or their moral 
nature, unless they make that nature the object 
of their own study ; and this, by means of the 
lights of Phrenology. 



THE END. 



? 3> - Z 



^>^x> 



> ^-> 




z>- 




>> z> 




~Z*: 


5 >/ 


► r> ~~~^ 








>^3 Z>" 






z> 




zx 


> m^zz> 

> *?> ";z> 

3>> 

13 \p 2 


> 

> 
> 


:> 


i D 

J* > 

> 


:> 










3 

z> 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Nov. 2004 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



->^>x> 



>3 

.33 

— -^ 

33 z» 



■j>33£> 
>3~>> 

3>_ 
*3 ^>iL 



33 1S> :^>. \ ^ 



^ SR >■£$ 



>3 3^ -?^ 

3u> 3^ >3 3 
x>3 3 2 

~^-y^> ' 33 - 



_> 3> O^ 

3 3 3> ^> ; 
3 >3 T3> 
3 > 3 3> - ;) ^ 
3 3 3> ^ 
> 3^ 

:> r >-: 

3 3> 3> 

-> 3> - 

3 ^333g >■_< 
.3 3 Sg> U^ 

2> 3> > 

3 x> 



» » 3^^>R^< 

I3P » 3^ i>5 

3£> 33 ,£>< 

3D .> 3 3 ]> U 

r3£> >* 3 * ^ ^ 






3-> 



>> 50> 



: "> X> .13^ 
:>3r>> 



003> 

^3> 

3^» 
330 
3 3 






> 3 5>^ ; 5J 

> 33>:3->,S* 
3> 3£i> 3- S* 



> X»3^ 
) 3»3> 5> 
!> 3»3 g 






LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





013 522 404 2 



